Wrath in White
by InOutoftheBox
Summary: Pro-tip, dying sucks. Another pro-tip if you do die, reincarnate. That's what happened to me, and oh boy, did I hit the jackpot. Not only did I get reincarnated, I got reincarnated in Remnant; The Land of Ruby! mild incest, no broxsis, but cousin stuff probably.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was dark.

I had no clue where I was, but the one thing I could say for certain was that it was dark. It wasn't just dark though, it was literally nothing, nothing to smell, nothing to touch, nothing to hear; nothing. Whether my senses had stopped working or there literally was nothing I wouldn't be able to say, after all what's happening to me right now is a complete mystery to me; the me who died.

I had been killed and before I knew it I was here, in this darkness. It's been a while since I've been here, how long though I couldn't say; the lack of all senses kinda makes that difficult.

Am I in hell?

…..

Yeah, no I seriously doubt it. Maybe this is what happens after death, never-ending nothingness…. If I was still alive that would be terrifying.

Well at least it's not that bad, I'm not in pain or being tormented by the souls of the dead, or whatever else people say happens after death. But the one thing I can say for sure is that it's boring. Maybe it's for some kind of self-reflection, 'to seek purity and focus on oneself they must be shut off from the outside' I think some poet wrote. To hell if I care, for all I know I'm having a really vivid dream, or would this be a nightmare?

Well, I might be thinking such things, but I honestly have no clue, and probably never will. The only thing I really know is that it's incredibly boring; Pro-tip, don't die, doesn't live up to the hype.

Well it's not like I chose to, damn psycho stalker.

….

I wonder if I can fall asleep here?

99997…

99998…

99999…

100000…

Shame I don't have a camera I could have recorded myself there. Dead man counts to 100,000 or whatever, that would get some views.

It's been a long time since I've come here. I've slowly been regaining my sense of touch. Since I can feel my body I've noticed the reason I couldn't see was because my eyes were closed, but they won't open, as for my ears I can barely make out anything. I sometimes hear something really muffled, but it's like a pin dropping you won't notice it unless you really focus.

At least that's how it usually is.

Noto now though, now it's screaming. Loud, loud screaming.

I've been trying to open my eyes to see the cause of the noise and although it may have taken me a while, I finally managed to open my eyes to see, but I was immediately shocked by what I saw; everything was huge. Luckily the screaming had died down when I finally opened my eyes, but I couldn't really see properly, or at least I wasn't seeing properly, it was like I was living in a child's painting, everything was just a mess of blobs, with giant human shaped blobs being the only think I could vaguely make out . I wasn't completely inept though, I mean you would have to be an anime protagonist to be that dense but I realised the screaming was from my mother. Or rather my new one I guess I should say.

Yeah, I was reborn, a very accurate title given recent….events.

I'm currently being held my some a blob with what looks like a blob mask, hopefully I wasn't reborn as a blob and it's just my infant eyes.

"…..healthy….aura….safe…"

Oh I'm being given to a different blob right now. As I'm being handed over I notice my mother blob was still, she must be asleep I think as I look at the new blob, with red blobs in the middle of what I assume is his face and blobs on top.

"Ira."

I don't know what he said, or I am assuming he said something considering his face blob slightly parted. All I know is I am tired. Getting reborn certainly takes a lot of work, doesn't it? At least I can finally sleep oh it's been too long, I think to myself as I give in to the desire.

I am now two, time sure flies when you're young.

It took me a while but I can finally see. Now you might be wondering, are the people blobs?

No! Hooray! On that note I'm also not a blob either I'm a completely normal reincarnated child. I can also walk and talk, aced it…. after what felt like too long. But at least I've even managed to get rid of the whole pronouncing r's as w's and all the other ways toddler's speak, oh how life is good.

"Iwa"

I hear someone call from behind me in the garden; unlike me they haven't been able to kick the whole w's and r's. Turning around I….

BAM

I'm on the ground looking at the beautiful sky as the snow is falling from it. Is that cloud an ice-cream or a duck? I think to myself completely forgetting I was talked by a now giggling snowflake. Apparently it's fun to tackle people to the ground, luckily the snow cushioned the fall, so I'm happy just lying here and being covered in the white world.

"IWA."

Apparently snow can talk now as well. No wait that's not snow, I think to myself as I look at the girl. She has long, white hair, sometimes it gives off a light bluish tint like ice or snow, matching her light blue eyes.

"Weiss?" I say as I look at the giggling girl.

Weiss Schnee, yeah, that Weiss Schnee. It seems I got lucky when I was reincarnated; not just an extra life but being born in Remnant, The Land of RWBY. Definitely the jackpot.

"We half to go in NOW!" she says, ending in an adorable shout with her hands in the air before giggling as she gets up while trying to drag me up at the same time, resulting in a pout when she couldn't. Well a small two year old barely has strength to drag themselves up, dragging another is almost impossible.

Getting up we walk towards the house, well it's the house of the Schnee's, so calling it a house is definitely wrong but, well, to put it bluntly, calling it a mansion probably wouldn't do it justice as to how big it is and I refuse to call it a palace.

"Why do we have to go in now?" It was a bit early for dinner and to be honest I was building a fort, I never had enough snow when I was growing up before, so now I will fully relish in this treasure.

"Itsha SURPWISE!" She shouts as she marches towards the doorway. Well everyone likes a bit of surprises now and again, I think as I silently walk beside her.

At the doorway is what looks like a slightly older version of Weiss is standing, ever the serious elder sister I think to myself watching the 9 year old try to act like a grown up, clearly betrayed by the excited delight that comes into her eyes when she sees us.

'If even Winter can't hold it in it must be something really big' I think to myself.

"Come on, Ira we'll be late." She says grabbing my hand to make me walk faster. Since I was trying to figure it out I didn't even notice it before we reached the front of the house and realised why.

Opening the door a large room, covered in medical supplies, I see a tired looking woman cradling a young baby in in her arms, smiling peacefully as the baby sleeps.

"Mother." Me and winter say before heading over to have a closer look. "What's his name?" Asks Winter, but before she could get a response,

"Mama! Baby?" Says Wiess as she rushes past us and arrives at the bedside, tilting her head as she notices her new sibling.

"Whitley." Mother, or Willo, says in a soft tone, resulting in a giggle from Weiss. Father is apparently out visiting a mine that had gone on strike, or so says the maids and butlers I overheard, so he isn't here for the kids birth.

Oh, it should probably be noted that they aren't my parents. The woman who gave birth to me died when I was born and my father must have left me shortly after, resulting in me never seeing him except in blob-form. How do I know that these aren't my parents you ask? Simply put, I remember her funeral. It happened shortly after I regained the ability to see properly, apparently she was related to my new mother, possibly siblings or something, at the very least they were close and she adopted me, nice woman, probably more of a mother than the one from my old life. She also gave birth to Weiss shortly after the funeral, that week must have been a rollercoaster for her.

"Shhh he's sleeping right now, we have to be quiet or else we will wake him." Mother says, holding a finger over her lips.

"Oh." Weiss realises, "Shhh." Weiss whispers to us, causing me to smile at the display of adorableness, so I mimic the train and do the same to Winter. Looks like I got a smile from that one. Me:1, Her: 76. Getting a new sibling must have softened her up, or rather lowered her usual watertight seal, I mean it's not like she is emotionless, just serious.

Anyway, as I am busy reveling in my victory, the door opens up once again, revealing a woman dressed as like nurse, or rather a real nurse coming in.

"Mrs Schnee, you need some rest, allow me to look after him while you rest." She says to mother when she makes her way to the bed.

"You're right, okay children mommy needs her rest, okay?" She says after handing the nurse the newborn.

"….Yes. Mother." Winter says after a short delay, failing to hid the unwillingness in her voice as she gives a slightly clumsy curtsy.

"Aww, but I wanna hold him." Weiss says, clearly voicing out her unwillingness.

"He needs to sleep too, Weiss, or he won't be happy." I say to the clearly dissatisfied girl.

"Weally? Like when Winter wakes up?" She says, innocently jabbing at the eldest sister's crankiness. 'Isn't she supposed to join the military, this must be what trained her to wake up early." I think to myself, holding back a laugh causing me to smirk.

"Worse." I reply, getting a shocked face from the girl as we walk out the door. As we all head to the courtyard, following Winter who is probably going to train. She said she is going to go to Atlas Academy, so she has been training since she was 5.

I wonder, when will I be able to train? Should I even become a huntsman, I mean it would be cool, but I could die, especially considering what I know happens later on. But Weiss would probably still be one, just me being here shows how different this world is from the story, so she may be killed like Pyrrha was. Oh, I'll have to do something about that, andI wouldn't want anything to happen to Weiss, and it's not like I would be able to escape from that witch; it would probably be a do or die situation, and I don't really want to die so soon.

I resolve myself as I watch Winter practice, with a sleepy Weiss sitting beside me, all in all, I've been having a good reincarnation.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

What did I say back then 'all in all a good reincarnation' Goddammit jinxing prick. I think to myself as I currently stare at an unconscious Weiss currently tied up in the back of what I assume to be those flying helicopter plane hybrids, bullheads I think they were called. I am also bound, but unlike Weiss, I woke up earlier, however I there seem to be some people back here with us so I haven't moved, so they should still think I am unconscious.

Now how did it all go wrong you may ask? Well it started a few hours ago. You see it is Weiss' 5th birthday, mine having been a month before. We were walking around Atlas' capital with a guard, because I promised Weiss that I would buy her anything she wanted, and she said she wanted me to spend the day deciding with her. While we were walking around, she was holding my arm giggling and suggesting this and that, basically we were just having some fun. When we turned the corner, following the guard into an alleyway the next thing I knew I was being knocked unconscious; luckily I had stayed awake enough to see the culprit.

"Explain why we don't just fuckin' kill these Schnees?" A tall, slightly skinny man asks, spitting on the ground as he stares back at us, clear disgust in his voice.

"The ransom money fuckface, why else do you think I haven't slit their fuckin' throats yet?" the guard from before says, his hands are tied, but it's clear he's a plant. He's probably there to calm us if we wake up, being a familiar face we believe we can trust.

Hearing their conversation I am currently jumping for joy, even if outwardly I look unconscious. If I had not been so secretive about my training, after realising how much Winter had to go through for pursuing her dream of going to the academy, these guys might have known I would know how to fight and keep a concealed knife on me at all times. Unluckily I haven't been able to unlock my aura, but from what I know, aura is typically unlocked by others, or through a time of extreme stress. But I've been practicing with weapons, and if anything from my previous world is to go by, I'm quite skilled. I may be best with swords because I have been using Winter's practise sword, I practiced with knives as well. At the very least I have technique down, even if I'm not physically as good as these guys so I might be able to get out of this, but if they have aura I am done for, I can only hope they wouldn't need to have guys with aura kidnap kids.

"You know what why do we need this fucker again, isn't he adopted or some shit?" Skin and bons had apparently been getting more and more agitated with just being near us as was getting up to kick us, before the guard rushed to grab him.

"Calm down Justin!" The guard shouts, grabbing him before he could connect with me.

"Calm down? How the fuck am I meant to calm down when these fuckers are whats wrong in th' world? How can you even stand being near them, they cut your fuckin' ears off!"

"Calm? You think I'm calm!" He shouts, pushing the man back so he collides with the seats on the other side. Taking a breath, he continues. "I'm waiting til the moment I can gut these fuckers like a fish and feed to the grimm, but we need to wait." He says, his teach grinding as he speaks clearly holding back his rage. Unlucky for them, they were already too loud.

"Iwa?" A sleepy Weiss asks, slowly sitting up, rubbing her eyes. A quick movement tells the guard got in his 'captor' position.

"Where are we?" She asks, slowly realising she doesn't recognise the environment. Panicking she notices the restraints on her wrist. "Where are we!" She shouts as she crawls over to me. "Ira! Ira wake up!" She shouts louder, pronouncing my name as she begins shaking me awake.

"hmm? Weiss?" I ask, putting on my best just woke up act, I perfected during my school days. "Why are we in a bullhead?"

The kids are waking up, Borus got into position just in time, the boy seems oddly calm, as if he woke up from an afternoon nap. Now that I see him, he while he looks similar to the girl, they don't look related. His eyes are sharp and bright red, almost shining, while his hair is more silvery grey than light blueishwhite, it has a slight lick up, just above his left eye, causing his forehead to be seen and the hair falls to the left and right of his left eye. The rest of his fringe falls flat, almost reaching his right eye, looking both refined and wild at the same time. The girl on the other hand, with the icy white hair and light blue eyes like all Schnee is already panicking, tears streaming down her face, enough for the both of 'em, she'll be fun to kill, I can already see the fear in her eyes. And I bet the boy'll crack if put on some pressure, maybe smack him around a bit.

"Shhhh. We don't want to make him mad; we don't know what he wants. We shouldn't draw attention to ourselves." Seems like Borus is playing the part.

Weiss slowly moves her gaze from Borus to the Ira, who puts his hand onto her head, ruffling her hair.

"It's fine, they probably just want to ransom us, don't worry I'm here Weiss."

(I need to keep Weiss calm.)

Hmm the boy is smarter than I thought, too bad he'll be dead when he realises what's really going to happen after we get the money.

"Oh? And what are you gonna do brat, or have you not realised your situation." I say, picking up my rifle and sword we were supplied with.

(What the hell is with this Thug A vibe with this guy?)

"Please they are just kids, leave them be. We will be quiet." Borus says, giving me a look. Too bad I don't feel like stopping, damn fucking Schnees.

"Shut the Fuck up." I say, pushing aside the kneeling Borus. "So kid, what the fuck are you going to do I say as I grab his chin to force him to look into my eyes.

_Calm_.

His eyes showed no hint of fear at all. Wait what is that he has….

"This."

Okay, he didn't have any aura, the knife went straight through his neck. It's odd, while in my old life I killed someone, it was only in self-defence, but I was haunted by it until myself died, every night I'd have nightmares about what happened. Now that I think about it, I haven't even thought about it since coming here. Even now, I don't feel anything seeing this man lie on the floor bleeding and dying. It's probably just the adrenaline.

"Wha..What did you do!" Shouts the guard, I never did catch his name.

"What did I do?" I ask innocently as I walk over to him. He backs away and comes to the metal side of the bullhead. "This." I say bluntly, plunging my knife towards his neck in the same fashion as before, not showing any motion before already moving my knife, thank you Bruce Lee and your non-telegraphed punch.

"Ira!" Weiss screams, has she just been pretending to mispronounce my name? I think as I look at her.

"Everything is alr…..

Dopahn!

"…..ight?"

What was that? I ask myself as a loud noise hurts my ears for a few seconds before I suddenly feel cold. Looking down, I realise I'm falling forward, managing to put my hands out before I fall, I feel something stinging on my left thigh.

Blood? Wait, why is there blood? Is that mine? Then I feel it, the pain of having a hole in my leg, apparently I was shot.

"Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit!" I repeatedly curse out as I look to the source. A man, no I guess Faunus would be more accurate to say as I look at him, a small, single antler that looks shaved down sits on his head, wearing some armour covering his upper chest.

"Oh? The kid had a weapon Bhahahah! Stupid fucks for not checking." He says as he taps the rifle on his shoulder, luckily I'm able to remain calm enough to realise it's a type of lever action carbine.

"Ira!" Weiss runs over to support me as I try to stand up, it's warm, I don't know how, but my body felt warmer when she came over. It felt weird, but it was nice, like having a bath after going your whole life showering.

I glare back at the man, who only further laughs, "its fine Weiss." I say, my tone seems a little more rough than usual, shocking the girl, though nothing too major.

"Oh scary look you got there kid, I think I might piss myself." The man says, pulling the lever of his gun as he walks over to us, still laughing.

"Leave us alone!" Weiss shouts, grabbing my knife and standing in front of me, glaring at the man who becomes serious for a second, glaring back.

"Oh you want to have a go?" He says setting his gun onto his right shoulder."Bhahah." He laughs again, annoying Weiss who runs at him.

BAM

Before she knows it he kicks her in the side, sending her against the chairs to the side, the dagger roles to just in front on me.

…..

I feel a surge of something warm run through me, only know it's on fire, as if my blood is boiling, as if begging me to release it as I stare daggers at the laughing man, who isn't even paying attention to me anymore, walking over and kicking the unconscious girl.

Then it happens.

Something within me just snaps, as if a dam had burst I ran, grabbing the dagger as I make a mad dash towards the man, my would not even registering, I see a some black circles make a path towards him, as I step on them I speed up, each one making me faster than the last, I tackle the man in the side, plunging the dagger into his side. We shoot forward a good meter or two and hit the door he came through. Yanking the dagger out I stab again, this time his neck, then his stomach. Again and again, again and again, until finally I stop. Getting up and running over to Weiss I check to make sure she is fine, she doesn't seem to have any external injuries, but her ribs could be broken she needs a hospital. Looking around I notice a door, running through it still grabbing my knife, not even sparing a glance for the now mangled flesh I see a cockpit, and another man driving. I feel my blood boil and press my knife against his jugular and say calmly,

"Where are we?"

"Huh?" He says, not even registering what is happening, before feeling the cold steel press harder against his throat drawing a drop of blood. "Vale, we are in Vale."

"Beacon, now." I say, my tone sharper and colder than the blade. Beacon is the academy for huntsmen, they should have the best doctors around for treating injuries.

Reaching Beacon, it looks exactly like how I remembered I think as I tell him to lower into the courtyard, we are already surrounded by students with their weapons drawn, should cause enough racket to get someone important to show up.

"Good." I say stabbing the man in the neck calmly, as if I was doing something normal.

Opening the back door, I rush to grab Weiss and carry her outside, luckily I have been training and have so much adrenaline running through me right now.

"DOCTOR! MEDIC! NURSE! ANYONE PLEASE HELP US!" I shout as loud as possible, shocking students which are basically trained killers. The sea parts and out comes a younger Ozpin, still carrying his coffee mug he is followed by a younger Glynda and a team of medics and some stretchers, why they were there, I don't know, but I didn't stop to think.

"She's been injured, maybe internal bleeding and broken ribs, please she needs assistance!" I plead as I gently set her on the stretcher.

"Don't worry young man; she will be healed before she even wakes up." He says calmly and softly before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Thank…" Before I could even finish, I had collapsed, as if hearing she would be fine made my adrenaline fuelled body collapse like a puppet that had its strings cut.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Ugh…"

I mumble, slowly waking up. My head feels like it's about to cave in, not good.

Trying to sit up, I notice a weight holding down my arm.

"hmmm?" I think to myself, the memories of what happened to me before going unconscious resurfacing, 'Did I break my arm?' I think as I remove the blanket to see something completely different.

"….Iwa…don't….go…." She says while scrunching up her face, it looks like she is having a nightmare as she hugs my arm tighter.

As I look at the sleeping Weiss using my arm as a pillow, a smile creeps up onto my face, she doesn't seem hurt; good.

"Ah Mr. Schnee it seems you're awake." The same silver haired man walks in from behind the curtain sipping his cup of what is probably coffee, but it might not be, maybe tea? It would be nice if it was hot cocoa, I myself would love a cup right about now. I must have a weird look on my face as he follows up, "You are in the nurse's office of my academy, you've been asleep for quite a while, don't worry we have contacted your parents, in fact they are already here."

"How is Weiss?" I respond, wanting to know her injuries, although she may look fine, minus the fact she is having a nightmare, there could be something you can't know just by looking.

"Don't worry I followed through when I said she would be healed before she wakes up, we have some of the best medics in Beacon; she probably didn't even know she was injured."

"good." I reply matter-of-factly, he probably wasn't lying, I'll see how she feels when she wakes up.

"But I think you should be worrying about your own situation now, Young man." He says with a light chuckle, "You have been unconscious for almost 2 days, but congratulations, you have unlocked your own aura, albeit a little forcefully."

"My aura?" I reply, tilting my head before remembering the feeling on the bullhead. Oh, so that's what aura is? It's nice to know it gives you a nice warm feeling, I was kind of worried it feel weird considering it's, you know, projecting your soul and everything I think to myself in silence, until I continued "What do you mean forcefully unlocked my aura?"

"Well, you see Young Man, while if it succeeds there shouldn't be any negative effects, forcefully activating it is quite dangerous. The chances of surviving…." I held up my hand to stop him in his track before he could continue,

"I appreciate the explanation but I think if we keep talking we'll wake this one up." I say, gesturing to the sleeping girl at my side, getting a chuckle from the headmaster.

"It would seem so."

###

POV Change

"To unlock it at such an age, with no prior training! A prodigy, he should be trained to make full use of his abilities; he would make a valuable asset to us." General Ironwood shouts, with clear enthusiasm.

"James…." He receives a sigh from the headmaster of Beacon, Professor Ozpin. In his youth he was considered a prodigy, being the youngest headmaster in all the four kingdoms, so his word carry a lot of weight, even with those as distinguished as General Ironwood, although the professor seems to be treating him rather rudely in my opinion.

"There are rules we must follow, surely you aren't suggesting turning the child into a child soldier?" Miss Goodwitch continues.

"Of course not Glynda." General Ironwood says calmly, "I merely think that it would be best to nurture his abilities, surely you also noticed the amount of his aura?"

Things progress like this, it seems the General wishes to train Ira, and I have to say I agree. Ira, although he is my younger brother, often acts a bit…strange to say the least. At first glance you would think he is nothing but a child, but there are times I can't help but wonder who the older sibling is. I've even noticed him wince when he watches me training sometimes; oddly enough it is during the more difficult forms, that I would then be corrected on by the instructor.

"Leave it to Jimmy to ruin a childhood." A suspicious man says in the back behind the Professor, before taking a drink of what I assume is alcohol. A rude individual to say the least, isn't he just a teacher?

"Qrow…." General Ironwood, who was about to reprimand the dull red-eyed drunkard, is interrupted by the Professor.

"James." He says in a stern tone. "While what happens to those in Atlas is under your jurisdiction, I believe it would be best to wait until he is of the age to decide for himself."

With that, it seems the discussion ends, although Mother and Father were rather quite during this discussion. I wonder if Whitley would want to become a huntsman, perhaps he would rather join the company.

"And Mr and Mrs Schnee, it seems your son has woken, Glynda here will show you the way." Ozpin says, gesturing to the Miss Goodwitch.

"Yes, of course." "Excuse us." Father and Mother say as they get up and bow, I also bow.

###

"Winter, can you use your semblance?" Ira asks, after spending most of the time with a far off look. Weiss is still by his side, with her head on his lap.

"Yes, although I just learnt how to, it took me a year to properly learn after unlocking my aura." I say, although he should inherit our family semblance,perhaps he wants a demonstration, is he trying to learn how to use them already? I wonder as I produce the basic glyph without any dust.

"Our semblance is called glyphs. On its own it can attract and repel like a magnet. This can be used to jump higher, run faster or as a shield. Recently I discovered a way to use it to walk on the air. It can be a solid construct, or you can pass objects through it, this would give them a similar property to the Glyph." I say lightly throwing a crumbled up piece of paper, which speeds up as it goes through the glyph. "However…" I pause to make sure he understands. "We can also use it to summon our vanquished foes, those who pushed us past what we were, making us who we are." As I finish speaking I notice his crumpled up face looking at the Glyph.

"I see…" He mumbles, sticking out his right hand.

…

"Wha….."

….

I quickly close my mouth, it seems I was stunned with mouth agape, hopefully it went un…not…iced…. He is smirking.

Taking a closer look at his Glyph, it seems a bit different from mine and mothers. That shouldn't be a problem, but to already have unlocked his semblance….

"Do the Glyphs look different from person to person?" he asks, obviously noticing the difference.

"Hmm, not that I am aware of; mine and Mothers look alike." I say, I wonder why they look differently. "However the type of dust used will change their colour." I say, unsheathing my weapon, I use the gravity dust in its chamber to create a gravity Glyph that make us float lightly in the air. This must have amused him, as his eyes lit up, although his eyes always look bright red, almost glowing.

"Can you pass me that for a second?" He asks, clearly wanting to try it himself. I shouldn't, however….

"Very well, however take your time." He nods as I hand him the weapon, we have about 10 hours left on our flight, that sword should keep him entertained.

###

It seems I was right.

After fiddling with this thing for what felt like hours, I finally got it too work, admittedly though, I didn't control it and I hit the ceiling. No pain, thank you aura. After spending time to control it to just levitate me in the air I called over winter to ask to see hers again. Yup, the design is different. The design between my own is even different. I wonder why that is? Isn't the Schnee semblance hereditary, I may not be their sibling, but we are related, it shouldn't be like this, should it?

After seeing mine is different she took by her sword and looks like she is inspecting it. Although it did give me the same effect, even if it looks different, it should be okay. Probably.

###

"Hmmm." I say as I look at the Glyph in front of me, it's currently alternating between going between attraction and repulsion, the basic forms of the Glyphs that don't require dust. A ball is currently being bounced on it, attraction catching it and keeping it on the Glyph, then repulsion sending it into the air. It's not heavy, so I can do this for a while.

After gaining my aura, I had spent the last week doing the same thing, mainly for control; there is still a hole in the ceiling above my head from where I used too much force. Unlike Winter and Mother, my semblance is slightly different, that much I know. It still produces the same effect, the strength being dependent on the amount of aura. Luckily I have quite a bit, even as a 5 year old, maybe reincarnation bonus? I don't know.

Anyway, I've noticed something peculiar about my Glyphs, They change colour and design to match the dust used, and without dust they are black. They are like magic circles rather than Glyphs, writing around the outside, in some language I don't know, and then lines in the center making complex designs and shapes. But what is really peculiar however is the changes depending on the circle. For example; Attraction and repulsion use the same shape, but the writing on the outside changes slightly when I switch between the two, it's nothing major, you'd miss it if not familiar with the circle, but there is most definitely a change. So instead of removing the glyph and replacing it, I discovered I could just change what the writing, allowing for the catching and throwing of the ball to be smoother and use less aura. Oh how sweet success is! I thought to myself, before a certain idea came to my head. One that would undoubtedly backfire, but on the chance it didn't… Oh ho ho, this could be good.

Waiting until nightfall, I made my way to were Winter keep's her hunter gear and 'borrow' her sword before booking it back to my room as quickly as possible.

Creating the same gravity Glyph as before using her sword's dusty, I found myself floating in the air, but due to something I was mre interested in, it completely escaped my perception. I was too busy staring at the Glyph below me. The lines in the centre made a shape a bit more complex than my basic Glyph; however it still had some resemblance, like the difference between a triangle and a pyramid. Even the writing on the outside had more than doubled, going all the way around it, twice. This is going to be take a while…

###

BAM

"ow."

BAM

"OW!"

BAM

"Fucking hell, OW!"

A few hours later, just as the sun was beginning to surface on the horizon, creating a beautiful aurora as it reflected off the snow. A young boy could be seen ascending from what can only be described as a palace.

"Oh shit."


	4. Chapter 4

**So I was going through my manage stories section and found that quite a few favourited and followed this story, Thanks! Feel free to leave feedback too. **

**Thanks for the reviews as well. And thanks for reading.**

**So to celebrate, here's a longer chapter than I usual. Enjoy.**

Chapter 4

The morning for those in the Schnee manor was an early one. It all started when the sun was peeking over the horizon. A series of loud crashing noises followed by the swearing of what sounded like a child woke up most in the manor.

Now, the normal reaction to hearing a child crashing through every floor going skywards would be to panic, right?

Not for Jacques. Being woken up by the noise like everyone else was more of an annoyance. Didn't people know how busy I am? Waking me up after I just managed to fall asleep, how impudent. He thought as he heard a knock on the door.

A slightly overweight man with a large moustache enters Jacques room after getting a reply.

"Sir, a figure has been spotted falling from the sky; the guards are currently getting ready to catch it."

"….Catch it?" Jacques asks as he slowly wakes up.

"…..Yes Sir, we have reason to believe it is Ira."

"I see. Take care of it Klein. I wish to speak with the boy once he….lands." Jacques replies while gesturing for the butler to leave.

"Yes, Sir." Klein replies

###

"It seems I have caused quite the ruckus." I say to myself with a light chuckle watching the courtyard below.

Mother, Winter, and Weiss are all gathered; each showing amusement, worry and panic respectively. The guards however are all scrambling to get some kind of tarp ready to catch me. Why am I able to calmly observe the courtyard below me while I'm hundreds of meters in the air you ask? Simple, because I've accomplished my goal; Eureka! You see, after noticing that my Glyphs change design and writing, I thought 'If I can change the writing on the basic Glyph to go from attraction and repulsion, couldn't I just do the same and change the design also?' And after a while, well a long, long while I finally cracked it! And cracking it resulted in me being suspended in the air right now, sadly my aura is almost depleted thanks to going through each floor on the way up, luckily there is now a straight hole from my room to the night sky.

"Yeah, this is probably going to take some explaining." I say while looking at the newly christened magic circle below me. "How do I explain that I, a five year old might I add, can do this without dust, doesn't that mean my semblance isn't the same as the Schnee Glyphs?"

"Ah my aura problem." Yup I'm plummeting towards the ground. Spotting Mother has set up a ton of Glyphs on my falling path, I sigh in relief, my first free fall will be successful; Practise for Beacon, I guess?

As I pass through each Glyph, they slow me down as I go, luckily landing on the tarp and not the hard ground beneath.

"Well?" Winter says, no doubt having noticed one of her swords was missing when she woke up.

"Ah, good morning." I say as I stand up, acting as if nothing has happened. Before she could correct my answer though, Weiss tackles me, but I manage to keep from falling.

"I was so worried…. Hic…. You could have died you know….. hic… You already almost died…..hic….. I don't want that to happen again Ira…." It seems I worried her more than I thought.

"Don't worry." I say patting her head, causing her to look up at me. "I'm your big brother aren't I? I wouldn't be able to protect you if something happened." I say with a smile on my face, calming the girl. Seeing this, I continue,

"So you can say my name correctly?" My calming smile changes into a smirk as the girl gets embarrassed.

"Ira." A cold tone interrupts us." Do you want to tell me what you were doing?" It seems mother doesn't wish to beat around the bush. I however have every intention of doing so. The plan for explaining something I don't want to explain? Don't explain.

"I…" I tilt my head and put on a look as if thinking seriously about something. "Fell?" We lock eyes while I keep up my innocence act; I have every intention of using my age to my advantage here. After a while, I win and she sighs, causing Winter to step in.

"I believe he was using his semblance and the gravity dust from my Kalt." Oh, so that's what it's called, I wonder what the other one is called. I wonder as I try my best to look shocked that she found out.

"I see." She says, holding back another sigh. Before turning to the approaching Klein, "Klein, make sure Winter's Kalt has been restocked with gravity dust."

"Right away, Miss Schnee." He says, giving a bow. When his heads comes back up, I notice the eyes have changed colour to a yellow colour, "Good show, my boy, I'm sure you got quite the view." He says jovially before his eyes turn back to light brown, "But it seems Master Jacques wishes to speak with you right away."

Yup I should have realised he wouldn't take to kindly to it. "Show the way."

###

Making our way to his study, Weiss, who tagged along, suddenly shouts,

"Bunk beds!" As if she made a realisation. "So you don't get in any more trouble I need to watch over you." She puffs out her chest as if it's the only conclusion to come to, resulting in a chuckle from me and Klein.

"That old fool wouldn't allow it; he wouldn't even allow you and Young Miss Winter bunkbeds." Klein says, his red eyes showing in his insult towards Jacques.

"That's true." I say further chuckling remembering how petty and cold-hearted the man can be, which shows in our parents recent…. 'rough patch' and why she isn't accompanying us. Realising the gloomy expression on Weiss' face, I continue, "but how about something else? I still haven't gotten you anything for your birthday." I say while ruffling her hair, which is easier than you think considering how short she is even though we are the same age. She recovers and gives a nod.

After entering his office alone, with Klein keeping Weiss company outside I find myself standing in front of his desk as he silently looks at me with his hands over his mouth.

"You are aware that I will have to pay to get the house fixed, yes?" He asks.

"Yes, Father." I say in a respectful tone. When I was watching the show in my old life I always said I would have hit him, but considering he is looking after me and I am only five and wouldn't survive on my own, I should be respectful at the very least.

"Are you also aware that both yours and Weiss' tutors will be coming today? What do you think will happen when they see a hole going through the house, or overhear the guards speaking about what happened? And what if news spreads, hmm? How will our reputation suffer when people begin talking about how a Schnee wasn't even able to control the dust they produce, hmm?" He asks as his anger becomes more apparent in his voice, probably not expecting me to answer more wanting to vent.

"With all due respect, Father, tutoring is typically done in the library. It would be possible to get to the library without going past a hole and while most of the staff knows of me falling from the sky, they don't know anything other than it being because of using my semblance. If you corner off the areas while they are being fixed, they will most likely think it is about refurbishments. Luckily I think I remember you saying you will be refurbishing some rooms." I answer, while I realise a five year old wouldn't able to reply like that, it should most likely be on the level of me being smart, if what Winter said earlier in the week about the conversation with Ironwood, it wouldn't be too farfetched for me, but seriously, prodigy? Isn't that Pyrrha? I guess Ruby would be as well considering she is the youngest in Beacon, as well as being a team leader.

"But word of a child appearing then falling from the sky in the middle of the night could harm our reputation, would it not? It could portray us as rapscallions who like making a ruckus in all hours of the night, don't you agree?" He asks, I can already see his manipulative mind working as he tests me.

"Would it not boost the family's reputation, Father? Calling a meeting with the staff to say the young 'prodigy' of the Schnee family has already succeeded in manipulating dust with his semblance would make them spread it to those outside, it would spread either way, yes. But this way it would be as praise rather than as complaints, everyone one loves to gossip after all, especially when it makes their job sound better." I say, I don't like being manipulative with the feelings of the staff, but right now I need him to lose some of his anger, and nothing is better than making his reputation better. Considering I'm not his kid, he might have taken more….extreme lengths than what I am suggesting.

"It seems you have thought this through. Good work, Boy. I will also be assigning you a combat instructor with Winter. You may leave." He says, a snaky smile on his lips, or at least I think it's a smile; it's you can't really see his lips under his moustache.

"Yes, Father." I say as I exit the study.

When I leave I see Weiss sitting on a chair outside his office while giggling at the sneezing butler with blue eyes. When she sees me, she runs over.

"What happened? He didn't shout like he usually does." She asks, yeah he has been slowly getting worse since both parents got separate rooms.

"It's a bloody miracle." Klein says with his now red eyes, resulting in Weiss trying to hold a giggle, while I chuckle, resulting in her failing her attempt.

"I'll be getting a combat instructor like Winter, but our tutors are coming today, so we might have to wait to go and get you your gift." I say as I ruffle her hair, something I've gotten in the habit of doing recently.

"Okay…. But it will have to be good since I've had to wait for so long." She says, oh how I spoil her.

"Sure, but let's go get breakfast okay." I say leading the way. "Klein, are there any pancakes?"

….

###

And so seven years passed without any more trouble while I took lessons in combat, education, I even learned how to play some instruments on Weiss' urging; it only took me two lifetimes but I can finally play the guitar, go me!

"Ira!" I hear Weiss shout at me as I just about finish my training. She had grown a lot, her hair is longer and she got taller, however she hasn't even started her training yet to be a huntress, I've been slightly worrying over this. I wave back as I start walking over to get a towel to wipe my sweat. Even in Atlas it still gets warm in the summer. I should also note that I have grown as well, I still haven't hit my growth spurt yet so Weiss is roughly the same size as me since girls typically get theirs first. My hair is also a bit wilder than before, but I still have that flick in my hair exposing part of the left side of my forehead above my left eye.

"So, when are you going to start practising?" I ask her as she runs over to me with a fresh towel; the one I had been using was getting a bit dirty, "Thanks."

"I don't need to if you are going to protect me." She states as if it was the obvious answer, "Besides, doesn't Grun already have enough on his plate training you?" She asks, looking at the collapsed form of Grun giving a small chuckle; he had been mine and Winter's instructor from before she went to Atlas academy, he cried tears when she left, now he was crying because of something else though; thank you whoever reincarnated me and gave me this much aura.

"I guess so." I say, joining Weiss in her chuckle, "So why don't I train you? I promise I'll be gentle, Snowflake." I say in a teasing tone, something I've realised is fun to do because she embarrasses easily. "It's just to make sure you can defend yourself, I might not always be there for you, who knows you might enjoy it."

"NO!" She shouts almost immediately, loud enough to wake Grun up from his nap, "You promised you would protect me so you can't leave!"

"But, Weiss, this is…." I try to reply to get her to change her mind but I'm interrupted,

"No! I don't need to train because I'll always have you to protect me!" She shouts again.

"I never said I would leave, but Weiss you…"

"No!" She shouts again, interrupting me, but this time I needed to make sure she understood.

"Weiss!" I shout, interrupting her. My voice was a bit rougher than I usually take with her, showing as she jumped slightly. I put my hand onto her shoulder and begin speaking when I have her attention, "This isn't about whether or not I will leave. I need you to get stronger, to be able to protect yourself. The world is filled with monsters who want nothing else but to get rid of us, not just Grimm, but people too. If not for yourself, then please, for me." I say as I pull her into a hug and pat her head. I don't get a reply after a while of staying like that, as we release each other from the hug; I speak again, changing the subject,

"Hey I got a present for you." Her eyes take on a puzzling look considering there was no reason for me to, although she still seems happy nonetheless. "Remember when we were kids and I said I would go out and get you something with you on your 5th birthday?"

"Oh, that's right…" She gasp as if realising something, "You never did get me anything. We went out again but by then we had forgotten."

"Well since you took so long to decide, I picked something for you." I say with a mischievous smirk.

"Didn't I say it had to be good?" She replies with a teasing tone, knowing my certain….. ineptness at choosing gifts.

"Oh, I almost forgot, Father wishes to speak with us." She continues before I could get a reply in.

"Really? Why would he wish to speak with us?" I ask, I can't even begin to guess as to why.

"Not just us, but Whitley and Winter, as well as a lot of important people in the company, even Mother is supposed to come. It's meant to be a huge ball tonight." She replies, obviously as clueless as me.

"Oh? It must be something big they are celebrating if that's the case. Wait if it's a ball, are you going to be performing? I ask looking at the resident Diva.

"Maybe…" She says, getting a bit shy before pumping herself up and continuing, "I've been practising all week, so you better be ready!" She says enthusiastically.

"All week? So you must have known about this all week also, and this is the first time you're telling me?" I ask with a faux reprimanding tone.

"It wouldn't have been a surprise otherwise." She says making an excuse.

"Well it's fine, but that just means you won't be getting your present until tomorrow." I say teasing her again.

"Awww…" She says with disappointment clear in her voice, "Will you at least give me a hint?" She asks pleading me.

"Hmmm…" I hum, pretending to contemplate, "No, it wouldn't be a surprise if I did." I say, throwing her words back at her.

"Fine, then how about we sing those songs you made up to warm up my voice." She says referencing the songs from my old life I immediately went to work learning to reproduce when I learnt how to play the guitar. Although she says warm up her vocals, it's usually just me singing and playing while she enjoys her, 'private concert'; I don't wish to brag but I am not half bad, Weiss is definitely better though, like comparing brightness between the sun and the moon. I guess she just likes listening for a change.

"Sure." I say while chuckling.

###

After a few hours of as I expected, just me singing, it should be noted that I absolutely killed it by the way, I think that was my best version of Walkin' Blues by Jay H.

When we made our way to the ballroom, it was absolutely filled with people. Not just were they high ranking members of the company, but also some people I have never seen before.

'Seriously what the hell does he want to do with this many people, I honestly have no clue at this point.' I think to myself as I notice Weiss is thinking the same thing. Looking at her, she is wearing a very modest dress, thankfully Remnant still has its morals compared to my old world considering how it was when I….left. I myself am in a 3 piece suit, it's probably the most high-class thing I have ever worn, even though I am technically a Schnee the suit I have on now just seems way too expensive for a 12 year old. While Weiss' has shades of light blue to white around the bottom, my colour scheme is slightly darker, with midnight blue suit jacket and trousers, a grey waistcoat, a red tie and a white shirt.

"Maybe he's quitting." I whisper to her as we take in the amount of officials attending, resulting in a giggle.

"Should we congratulate Winter now then?" She asks, playing along.

"No, no, we wouldn't want it to go to her head." I reply as we make our way over to the person in question, who is wearing a much more…fitting dress, accentuating her curves adding some adult charm to the huntress-in-training. After appreciating such a spectacle, I say,

"Welcome back, Winter." With Weiss saying the same thing.

"It's good to see you both. Ira I hear you have been giving Grun a tough time during your training?" She asks, with a slight hint of proudness in her tone. Grun wasn't a huntsman, so he wasn't anywhere near as capable as probably even Winter anymore considering she will be entering her third year this year. However he is one of the best swordsmen in all the four kingdoms. On skill alone he could contend with a huntsman.

"It would seem so." I chuckle, remembering how he was when I told the greying man that I wouldn't need any more training today. "But that is because I have better stamina thanks to my aura; he is undoubtedly still my better in pure swordsmanship, I doubt it would turn out like it does if he was younger."

"You haven't been practising your semblance?" She asks, slightly in disbelief.

"I have been practising my semblance, however I believe it would be better to get a solid technique in fighting and other martial arts before I begin incorporating my semblance into them or else I won't be able to fight without relying on it." I say to her, however before she could reply, Jacques comes over to us,

"Weiss, if you could make your way backstage and prepare."

"Yes, Father." Weiss curtsy's before walking away.

"Winter, you are aware what tonight is about and will act with the gracefulness of a Schnee." He says, making it sound more like an order than a question.

"Yes, Father." She says, he then spares me a look and turns away.

"What was that about?" I ask, feeling like I'm in some kind of 3rd rate soap opera.

"I am being stripped of my position as heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"I am being stripped of my position as heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." Winter states indifferently.

"…" After standing in silence for a while to get over my mild shock, I reply, "You don't seem too sad about it?" pointing out at my sister's indifferent attitude. Now that I think about it doesn't Blake call Weiss and heiress at the start of the show? So I shouldn't have been so shocked, but didn't that happen because Winter joined the military. As I think such things, she continues,

"I will be joining the Atlesian Military upon graduation, something I have been aiming for since I was a child, I never wished to inherit the company." She says, confirming my suspicions, I guess when you are a specialist, getting drafted early must be normal, even still this didn't happen in the story, or at least I don't think so. It has been 12 years since I was reincarnated; I really need to spare some time to write down what I know of upcoming events before I forget.

"I see...but aren't you a bit too young? You are just starting your third year at the Academy." I ask, even if I know things from the show, I can't exactly expose it, although saying you watched this world happen in a previous life in the form of a show would never be believed, it's good to keep up appearances.

She looks around for any eavesdroppers before replying, "Usually, yes, however General Ironwood thinks my talents would benefit in a special unit which he overseas personally."

"Oh? Congratulations, Specialist." I say with a teasing smile. Before she could issue a rebuttal, Weiss' performance starts.

In no way was I only listening to her performance as a way to escape from hearing Winter's rebuttal though, Weiss is truly an amazing singer, this performance was no different; as beautiful as always. It was soft, yet emotional; not something you would expect a 12 year old to be singing but no one seemed to notice or care as they just enjoyed listening. As it ended, the crowd erupted with applause, I myself one of them as I locked eyes with Weiss, giving her a warm smile which she returned before she left the stage, only to be replaced with Jacques when the crowd settled down and began speaking,

"As I am sure you are all aware, recently the position of successor to the Schnee Dust Company has been put into question." He says, surveying the room before spotting me, Winter and Weiss who had just made her way over. "I would like to confirm you're suspicions. Winter, my eldest daughter, will be taking a future position in the Atlesian Military, and because of this, she will no longer hold the position of heiress." At his words, most of the crowd begin whispering with eachother, trying to speculate what this means, and gossiping about who will be chosen instead, however some more shrewd individuals hold their tongue while waiting for Jacques to continue.

"I am well aware what some of you may be thinking." He continues, causing the whisperers to quiet down. "However I assure you, I am only acting with the interests of the Company first. And as such, I will be naming a new successor tonight. One that I assure you has already shown promise and gained popularity with the public and I have only higher hopes for them." He took a pause again. Considering his words, it seems Weiss is going to be named successor like I thought, I should congratulate her. But for him to use her as if she is a piece on a chessboard angers me. Anyway, it seemed he had continued the speech while I was thinking such thing, "But, that will be announced later tonight, for now; enjoy yourselves." He says holding up a glass before leaving the stage.

"I guess that all but confirms you Weiss, congratulations." I say as I turn to her with a smile.

"Why thank you, Sir Ira, it is my honour." She says with a playful curtsy and a giggle, "Perhaps a dance to congratulate me?" She asks, which I oblige as the orchestra plays a slow song.

"But try not to step on my toes this time, Princess." I say with a smirk as I lead her to the dance floor.

As we dance she asks me, "Since he hasn't announced it yet, isn't it possible you would be named heir?"

"That would be a problem, plus I seriously would hate to take over the Company. I will probably leave and become a huntsman anyway, I'm thinking of going to Beacon Academy in Vale. You and I both know how bad it is to stay cooped up in here, I probably would have gone mad without you to keep me company." I say to her as she blushes and puts her head into my shoulder.

"But you can't, you said you wouldn't leave me." She says, still not looking up.

"Why don't you come with me then?" I reply, just as the song is coming to an end. "You can join me for training with Grun."

She stays silent as the song ends and we make her way over to Winter, however before I can say anything else, Klein begins speaking.

"Ira, it seems you are required in the study." Me? I think wondering what he would want out of the blue.

"Me? What would he want me for?" I ask, he almost never wishes to speak with me, although it's not just me but Weiss and Winter too, Whitley is almost always around him however, in fact when he came up to us earlier, Whitley was standing behind him.

"I'm afraid that's not something I can say." He replies before turning around with a gesture saying to follow him.

Making our way to his study, he didn't say a word, which is unlike him; he even looks a little sad.

"Enter." Jacques says after Klein knocked on the door. Escorting me in, Klein bows and goes over to a tea stand and begins preparing tea.

"I take it you know why I called you here, Boy?" He says, probably expecting me to know. To be honest I have a few ideas, almost all of them I don't want to happen so I will play innocent.

"No father, I do not."

"I see…." He says as he rests his chin on his interlocked hands. "Simply put, I will be naming you heir. Prepare a short speech; I will be announcing this in an hour."

"Huh…" I just stand there in front of his desk with my mouth agape, not mustering any proper word in response, my brain however is anything but frozen.

Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck. This is NOT I wanted to happen; I had hoped with me not being his son, he would forego me in the order and choose Weiss.

Oh shit, shit shit shit. I can't think of something to reply, my face must look completely blank as he interprets as surprise.

"It may be surprising, but it is true, if you have nothing to say, you may leave." He finishes, taking a sip of the tea Klein poured for him.

…

…

"I refuse." I say after a long time of just standing there. There is only one thing I can do. I've realised something thanks to this. Rather, I should say I have always realised it, but I this has made me accept it; my presence here is causing the world to diverge from the show. Winter should not have been named a specialist until she graduated, maybe it even took her a while to climb the ranks, but Ironwood has been keeping an eye on the Schnees since that incident when I was 5. Next is Weiss, who should already have started her training. She should be following in Winter's footsteps and aiming to become a huntress, my presence is affecting her too much. She needs to get stronger.

"….You what? You…Refuse?" He says, slightly shocked. "This isn't something you simply 'refuse' Son, are you aware how much I've put into raising and educating you!" He says, his voice rising into a shout, "YOU WILL ACCEPT, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"I will not." I state bluntly.

"THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION, BOY. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I HAVE PUT INTO RAISING YOU, TAKING YOU IN AFTER YOU MOTHER DIEDYOU'RE YOUR FATHER DITCHED YOU? WITHOUT ME YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER SURVIVED!" He shouts, his anger clearly blinding his judgement as he casually drops me not being his son.

"I think Mother, or rather Willo, was the one to take me in after her sister, my birthmother, died, was she not?" Not just Jacques, but also Klein twitches at the realisation that I knew I wasn't his child, or Willo's, all this time, and that I knew vaguely who my real parents were.

"But….how did you….. Was it Winter who told you, or perhaps Willo?" He says, trying to find someone to blame.

"No, I found out myself, it just took some digging." I technically wasn't lying, I wanted to find out the identity of my birthmother, and it turned out to it was right it was Willo's sister; however there was nothing on my father so he is still a mystery. "The Schnee family records all members both alive and dead, so discovering that Willo's younger sister was…."

"ENOUGH!" Jacques shouts, interrupting me, "I will not have someone I raised disrespect me like this. If you don't wish to follow my orders, then you do not have a place in this home, leave, I never wish to see you in front of me again." He says calmly, however his words are seething in rage.

I knew it would turn out like this the moment I refused. I had been putting the idea out of my mind, not wanting to leave Weiss, or Willo, or Winter, I had been thinking everything would be fine, that the problems would resolve themselves, but I was just looking away from the problem, pretending not to notice the effect my presence had. This is the only way I can fix it; to leave. Hopefully Weiss will take it upon herself to protect herself, to become strong, like how she should be. This is my hope; she is both the reason I don't want to leave, and the reason I have to; I guess I grew attached to my sister as much as she did for me.

"Very well." I spoke, getting up and escorting myself out of the study.

"….Ira?..." I hear someone call as I close the door, to see a crying Weiss.

"Weiss….I…." I go to reply, but Klein interrupts me with a sorrowful look,

"Miss Schnee, your father wishes to speak with you."

"But, Klein!" She shouts, trying to protest.

"I will be fine, Weiss, calm down before you go in." I say wearing a sorrowful smile as I pat her on the head, however she swats it away as she looks angry, turning her head away. Seeing this, something begins clouding my vision, but I hold it back. Before I could say anything, she goes into his office.

###

Listening to her Father shout and yell, he tells her she will be the successor and to prepare a speech. She didn't even manage to reply before being escorted out by Klein. Klein was the family butler, however it could be said he was more of a parent to Ira and Weiss than Jacques and Willo; one not caring and the other too busy drinking to care. Even he, himself thought of them as his own children, he would want nothing more than for them to be happy, so when he realised what was going to happen and watched as it did, he could do nothing but blame himself. 'How could I do nothing?' He kept asking himself, however there was nothing he could do, and so he kept wallowing in pity, not being able to cheer the little girl up as she holds back tears while giving a speech on what is meant to be a joyous occasion, but is only filled with sorrow instead.

###

Weiss had never been so sad, there was nothing she wanted to do more than curl up and cry, but she was named successor, she had things to do first and she wasn't strong enough to say no to father like a certain someone. After the ball ended, she quickly returned to her room and began crying, everything she has held in that night all came bursting out of her like a broken dam; everything she wished had went differently, everything she wished didn't happen at all, everything. She wasn't able to stop, there was only one person who would be able to get her to stop, but he wasn't here; she had overheard there conversation in the study, all of it, he was gone. After what seemed like all night of crying, she noticed something on her nightstand that she had not noticed when she came in. Through the tears in her eyes, she saw a box, wrapped in white wrapping paper with a red bow. Opening it she found a case and a note.

_I told you it would be a surprise. _

_A present fit for a Princess._

_It might be difficult to think about me leaving,_

_About not having me there for you, _

_Buti hope I never have to leave you,_

_But if I ever do have to go,_

_Hopefully this will remind you of me._

_That you aren't nor will you ever be; alone,_

_For even if I do leave, I will come back as quick as I can_

"….Hic…But you won't be back….hic…..you left….hic….me alone….hic…. you promised…" She cries to herself as she opens the box_._

Inside she finds an icicle shaped tiara.

**Time for some audience participation! Not really spoilers but don't read this if you don't want that.**

**Thinking a few chapters ahead I realised that I haven't thought out what I will be doing for his team. I've decided to either put him as an extra member on one, bringing it to 5, or remove an existing member and replace it with him' If this, I thinking Jaune because I don't really like his character and I don't think he will have much impact in this story. I could create 3 new OC's but simply put, I don't want to add new OC's to the story like that. I might change my mind if you guys give a good argument but as it stands now, I won't. If you guys could say what you think, any arguments for one over the other, that would be great, thanks in advance. If you don't I'll just go with what I was going to do anyway.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Boarding!" Shouts a man in a sailor's uniform; coincidentally a massive passenger ship and it's only boarding ramp is behind him.

A young, lean looking boy, who doesn't even look as if he has reached his teens yet, begins walking through the large crowd as he makes his way towards the sailor.

"Ah, are you okay?" The young boy asks as he accidently bumps into and knocks down a brawnier looking boy. Looking closely, the young boy is wearing a grey waistcoat with a white shirt and skinny red tie underneath with dark blue, slim fitting pants and black dress shoes. Coincidentally his shirts sleeves are rolled up, whether this is a preference or due to the hot summer weather, is unknown.

The person the boy bumped into "I'm fine." Replies, slapping away the hand the leaner boy held out.

'If I had felt guilty before, I wouldn't now.' The boy thinks to himself as he walks away.

"Ticket."

"Here you go, sir." The boy says, fishing the ticket from under his waistcoat.

After a while of looking between the ticket and the boy, the sailor asks, "Aren't you a little young to be travelling alone?"

"Yes, yes I am." The boy replies, for some reason he begins to smirk.

'Too be deprived of his parents at such a young age.' The sailor thought, looking at the singular bag that the boy is carrying, feeling sad for the child as he gives him back his ticket and gestures him onto the ship, before shouting "Next!"

Walking towards the reception desk on the ship, he caught a sound from a distance away, back at the boarding ramp,

"Wait! I swear he had his ticket just a few minutes ago! He must have lost it!" A man shouts as guards were escorting his son away.

The boy however, decided as if he didn't hear anything and continued towards the receptionist.

###

Hours later, when the ship had left the docks and the sun had set meaning many people were beginning to fall asleep; a shadow can be seen slipping through the ship before it comes to a stop in front of a door to one of the smaller cabins.

"Was it this one?" The shadow whispers with a childish sounding voice, before knocking on the door to the cabin. Getting no reply, he takes out a key he got from a woman at the reception desk and a piece of paper.

'Room 421' both the key and paper say.

"Guess so." The shadow says while entering.

###

"It's you!" A familiar brawny boy standing to the right of a slightly leaner child shouts as he points at him, drawing the attention of the rest of the guests in the diner. Normally this would seem like bullying, however most of those present had seen this before in the last few days they have been travelling on the ship, and they again thought it was some kind of improvisation act provided for the guest's amusement.

The leaner child looks at the other boy with wide eyes, as a shrimp sticks out of his mouth. Looking around to see if the brawny boy meant someone else he doesn't see anyone other than him he could be pointing at, so he points one finger towards his face, still with the shrimp sticking out.

"Yes you, who else do you think, you moron." The brawny boy insults.

'Ah!' The lean looking boy seems to realise something as he closes his fist and taps it on the palm of his other hand; a chandelier lights up for a second directly above the boy.

Taking the shrimp out of his mouth, he hands it to the other boy and says with a sincere tone, "My mistake, I didn't know you wanted to say your goodbyes to him before the meal."

After some guests laugh, the whistle of a kettle being boiled resounds throughout the diner, resulting in a waiter who was bringing it to a table to apologize; much to the humour of the guests.

Looking back to the brawny boy, he had swung a fist towards the leaner boy, who had leaned over to pick up a dropped fork; resulting in the boy following the momentum of his jab and stumbling over the back of the lean boy, landing on his own back at the other side of the chair, "I didn't put in so much strength in the swing that would cause me to stumble like that, did I?" The now lying down boy wonders as he looks at the spot where his feet were when he stumbled.

As the leaner boy brings his head back up, he notices that the boy who had been there a moment ago had disappeared. Looking around in an exaggerated manner and still not noticing him, he picks up his plate before not finding him there either and placing it back down. As he looks around one more time, he notices the boy getting up from the ground to his left, and he exaggeratedly jumps up to his chair standing to its right.

The brawny boy, who just stood up, unbuttons the jacket he was wearing, revealing a mace concealed underneath,

"Haah.." The audience gasps in shock, even those who have seen the show before do as well, 'this wasn't in the previous shows.' They think to themselves.

"I am a huntsman-in-training Dammit, show you're future protector some respect!" The now mace-wielding boy shouts as he readies his weapon. While he wasn't at the age to attend one of the four academies, he looked around the right age to be attending a combat school, so the audience began to worry for the lean looking boy.

The boy in question, however, seems calm as he looks at the sword, before picking up his knife and spoon, switching glances between the two; he sets the knife back down and holds the spoon up while covering one of his eyes. It looks as if he is trying to size the spoon up with the mace from a distance; however it looks quite comical for those watching, some of the audience members don't laugh though, realising that the mace-wielding boy is in quite a proper stance, even if it is a little sloppy.

After the lean looking boy seems satisfied, he takes up a stance with his left hand behind his back and his right holding up the spoon in front of him. "En Garde." The spoon says, taunting the mace.

Infuriated at being made a mockery of, he charges and strikes with an overhead slash, however his attack is sidestepped by the other boy who had dipped his spoon into a bowl and was now bringing it back up to his mouth, filled with a nearby customer's soup.

"Delicious!" He exclaims with a large grin, raising the spoon up high, even though food just stolen by the child, they can't help but laugh. However it is cut short, quite literally as a mace comes down into the middle of the table, not quite splitting it in half, but still damaging too much for it to be usable anymore.

"Phew!" The spoon wielding boy says, pretending to wipe sweat from his forehead. "But look at all the food that was on the table, that soup was a masterpiece."

"Shut up and stop running away!" The mace user says again, swinging his mace with a horizontal sweep, knocking over a nearby soda fountain.

The spoon wielding boy, after jumping over and flipping to be behind the boy, stands on his toes and shouts towards the guests who were on the other side of the fountain and are now covered in soda, "Careful, first 3 rows will get wet!"

Turning around and continuing the horizontal sweep, the brawnier boy manages to hit the spoon wielder, knocking him back onto a family's table. A scream comes from some women who were too far to see how the boy ended up and thought he was seriously injured, some run to tell the guards what has happened, while others shield their children in case he decides to turn his mace at them next. But what of the family that were sitting at the table the boy landed on?

"Alas, it seems that this is the end for me, I cannot go on. I have been stricken by the Count, if only there was someone who could give me the strength to carry on and fight this evil standing before us…"An overly dramatic speech comes from their table. The lean boy raises his hand weakly into the air as if trying to grasp that light of hope to give him strength.

"How can we give you strength?" A youngest girl at the table shouts, obviously caught up in the pace of the scene.

"What I need….. Is…." The boys words becoming weaker as he continues to talk, "Cake." A final word comes out before the boy hand falls as if its strings were cut.

The overenthusiastic girl quickly feeds the boy some of the cake that had been cut, luckily it wasn't squished by the boy; or rather it was as if he landed in such a way as to avoid it.

"I…Am…" The boy begins to say as he eats the cake, gaining more strength behind his words with every bite, "REVIVED!" He shouts as he stands up onto the table in a hero pose.

"Listen here, Count!" He says, pointing his spoon at the brawnier boy, "I will not let you succeed in taking away the good food of this fine diner!"

The mace wielding boy was confused as he watched the scene unfold. He had just struck the young boy with a good hit, he should be unconscious, maybe even dead, right now, the fact he had tried to murder someone clearly not even reaching him. But it was as if he was treating all this as a game, causing him to grab his mace and charge in anger,

"Just die, you brat!"

Dong!

A weird sound reverberates through the diner, followed by a Thump! Sound as a body hits the floor.

The lean looking boy, triumphantly standing over the collapsed body of the older boy with one foot on him as if he had conquered a great beast, laughs in an exaggerating manner before speaking,

"Rejoice!" He yells, with his spoon raised into the air, "For I have saved the good food of this diner and vanquished the wicked Count!"

YAY! Shouts erupt in joy from children while laughs erupt from the adults.

###

"That was not worth it at all." I say to myself with an exhausted tone as I finally leave this accursed ship. Every time I went out of my room, that familiar looking kid would shout and try to attack me for no reason whatsoever, well there was definitely a reason, I mean I stole his ticket and his parents must have had to buy a new him a new one. Luckily it doesn't seem like his parents realised, probably thinking he lost it. He must have been trying to put the blame on me, even if his parents shouted at him, to think he would try to kill me with an actual weapon. "Even as a kid he was worthless, Seriously, I mean I let him hit me for dramatic effect but still, that was setting a bad example. Well it was my fault, if I hadn't been pretending it was some comical skit every time he accused me of stealing his pass, I wouldn't have had to do that. If I didn't though they might have believed him and I would be arrested for theft….."Haaah…He's lucky I only bopped him on the head with a spoon" I sigh to myself, stretching my arms and putting the memory out of my mind as I look around the city we had docked in.

"Argus…."

**Hope you liked the show! I really wanted to do this chapter, keep an eye out for the boy too, he might be important later on Wink Wink. BTW Ira was leaner than the other boy, just meaning he his muscles were more compact, with no excess fat or muscles. The brawnier boy however had the excess. In contrast to Ira's maximize strength without losing any agility, the brawny kid was strength all the way; that kind of thing. But they are still young, so it just looks like a skinny boy against a larger boy atm.**

**Fun Fact: When I was choosing a name for Weiss' mother I chose Willo because of Will'o'wisps, I just recently found out that the placeholder name fans give to Weiss' mother is Willow, what a coincidence.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Check that off the ol' bucket list." I say to myself as I pack away my things and get ready to leave. 'I made quite a bit too, that should be enough.' I think to myself as I put a guitar over my shoulder and free up my hands.

"That was so cool!" Someone says as they walk away. It was pretty cool, if I say so myself. It had always been on my bucket list in my previous life, but never got around to doing it, mainly because of my lack of skill. But now, I can say I have. What was it you ask? I was busking, a simple and honest work for gathering some money. I had found something that had interested me, but it cost a lot. So I had two options; perfect the art of thievery and steal enough to get it, or busk. So of course, I chose the good, honest way because that's the kind of person I am.

….

Yeah, bad joke. To tell the truth, I saw an opportunity and decided to go with it. What was the opportunity you ask? That is personal, it absolutely did not involve me going to steal someone's wallet through the art of pickpocketing but seeing a guitar in a shop, then deciding to steal that instead and busk ' the good, honest way'.

It's not like I am a kleptomaniac, nor did I have no money. I just don't want to spend the money I brought with me when I left home; it's very hard to make money so young you know, so I'll only use it if I have to. Of course I could have probably thought of something else, but as they say 'When in Rome'; in this case Rome being homeless; i.e. Me. Of course, I also have a good excuse, and I will be making a ton of money if it works.

What is it you ask?

###

"Welcome! Welcome, one and all: To the Mistral!...Regional!…TOURNAMENT!" An announcer shouts into the mic, being met with the loud cheers of the audience.

Why it's the prize money from a certain tournament of course!

"You again?!" A familiar brawny boy shouts as I fasten a rusty sword to my belt.

It took me almost two day days before I could even have enough to buy a participation ticket, apparently if you aren't in a combat school it costs you money to enter; must be a way of keeping idiots away, I mean almost everyone else will be a huntsman in training and be using aura and if you can use aura, you should be attending a combat school anyway. Then when I did, finding out they don't provide weapons, I had to busk for another 3 days until getting enough to buy a weapon; I am seriously cursing myself of not making a custom weapon before leaving. The weapon I am using is a single edged sabre with a straight, slightly thinner than usual blade, and the tip of the blade curves slightly to create a point. In honesty it looks like a mix between a rapier and a sabre and was most likely deemed a failure by the blacksmith, but the blade is sturdy and doesn't have any abstract or gaudy design. In fact it's very minimalist, even the handguard too. The colours scheme matches mine though; a dark blue handle, a greyish handguard and a black blade with a red line running up it like a crack. It would usually be quite good, but it was a bit rusty, helping in dropping the price into my range.

Bringing back my attention to the familiar boy, I reply "Do I know you?"

"You better, stealing my ticket, and then making a fool of me for 3 whole days! You think I'm gonna let you get away this time? I hadn't tripped you would already have been sleeping in the ocean you damned brat!" As the boy begins to reach for his weapon, I interrupt him,

"Not ringing any bells, also fighting outside of the stage is forbidden, by all means take you weapon out and attack, I can just say it was self-defence after I knock you out again." I say, gesturing to everyone who had turned their attention to the loud boy, "I think amount of people as witnesses should suffice."

"Heh, Whatever, when we get out on stage, I won't go easy like before." He says before storming off, I go to reply but am interrupted by my name being called. It seems the announcer had already announced the beginning of the tournament.

"And the opponent; Ira. A mysterious young boy, not from any combat school; can he stack up against those training to be huntsmen? Let's find out!" The announcer shouts as I make my way on stage towards him. When both I and my opponent are on stage, the announcer….eh announces the start of the match, "Let the match, Begin!"

My opponent, a blue haired boy, begins firing at me from long range with a futuristic looking rifle. I dodge a plasma bullet to the left, and then slide under before jumping to the right, dodging another two. After I dodge for a while, he notices that he isn't able to hit me from afar and changes tactics, charging in while his weapon transforms, he leaps after it does. His rifle turned trident strikes the ground where I was just standing, with a spark coming from the tip and running across the ground. I had dashed forward, roughly two times the length of his range before he realises I am no longer standing where he had struck and turns with a horizontal sweep.

After he notices I am too far for his weapon to reach, he puts up his guard, taking a stance with his left foot slightly forward and his body at a 45° from facing me straight on, his weapon raised at the back, pointing across his body and the blade towards the ground between us. Deciding I have seen enough, I draw my own weapon and take up my own stance with my left hand behind my back and my right hand raising the sword.

This time no one moves, this is technically my first fight, so I am taking it slow, honestly I'm being a bit to cautious. After a short while, I notice his gaze look down to his weapon and he begins to move, the weapon change is what draws his attention. I don't let the opportunity slip and charge at him, covering the distance before he can look back up from his weapon, I perform 5 thrusting attacks; hitting his arms, legs and solar plexus one after the other. The boy stumbles back and takes a knee since he has just been winded, even if aura protects the body from damage, you can still get the wind knocked out of you, I learned that the hard way 'Thanks, Grun' I think to myself as I go in to press forward again, however a horn sounds, followed by the announcer,

"And the first round goes to Ira!"

Looking up at the board which displays our aura I notice his has already entered the read, 'That was a little too quick, but I've never actually managed to hit any opponents with them attacks before, only training dummies', of course the opponents I am talking about are Winter, someone already recognised as a specialist, and Grun, one of the greatest swordsmen in the four kingdoms, even if he hasn't unlocked his aura; these facts escape my mind though.

"Not bad." I say, offering the kneeling boy my hand, which he grabs and stands back up.

"Heh, I don't feel like that's true though…" He says with a defeated tone.

"If you hadn't been drawn to look at your weapon changing form, you could have been able to block." I say, it wasn't exactly a lie, he might have been able to block, however he wouldn't have been able to block the attack I would have used after if he did; either way I would have won. "Getting impatient will get you nothing but a quick death, stay cool and wait."

"Cool, huh." He says in a low breath, before looking up and continuing, "I'm Neptune."

"Ira." I reply coolly, he seems a bit different from the show; he doesn't have that cool air about him, instead he seems a bit downcast if I'm honest. "Come on we should leave before we hold up the tournament." I say, walking off the stage.

"uh, Yeah. Hey, Ira? Aren't you that guy who was performing earlier this morning?"

###

After the first matches, the rest all ended just as quickly. And so, I ended up in the semi-finals; after this match is the finals and I can already predict who I'll be up against.

"Haah…" I sigh as I watch my opponent take the stage when they call his name,

"In this corner, we have Cardin Winchester. He has been rising through the ranks in this competition, quickly becoming a crowd favourite for his strength in wielding such a large mace when still so young!" The announcer says, getting some cheers from the audience.

"In contrast his opponent, Ira has only grown more mysterious with every match; each of his matches ending when he draws his rusty blade. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see what he does next!" He shouts, getting cheers again and announces the match, "Let the match, BEGIN!"

"What's wrong, you scared?" Cardin taunts, readying his weapon.

"Haaah…" I sigh once more, not only was he annoying me when I was on a nice leisurely cruise ship, but he does it again when I'm trying to win the tournament money. 'I really should break his legs' I think to myself. No I probably shouldn't he needs to be fit to attend Beacon, seriously with everything being a bit different than what I remember, why is he still a prick?

"And as we have seen before, Ira still has yet to draw his sword, perhaps he is sizing up his opponent, the question in the back of all our minds, will his speed be able to compete with Cardin's strength?" The announcer comments as he watches us standing still; there has been match commentary from the quarter finals onwards, almost like the Vytal Festival, minus the changing landscape sadly.

"HA!, hear that? He thinks you might win." Cardin taunts again while laughing, I hold back the urge to sigh as I reach into my waistcoat and pull out a weapon different from the one at my waist,

"It seems Ira is already making a move, what will he use this time? A gun? A crossbow?...A SPOON?!" The announcer shouts in shock as I bring out a spoon from my waistcoat, infuriating my opponent.

"Does Ira think his opponent who has crushed every one of his opponents so far isn't even worth using a proper weapon against?!" He shouts, only serving to infuriate Cardin more.

"Well?" I ask with a taunting smirk, "Round two?"

Charging towards me swinging the axe in a two-handed overhead swing, I lightly sidestep and slowly bring the spoon towards his head, causing him to back away as quickly as he can.

"And Cardin backs away, but was it just me, or was Ira's swing rather slow compared to before, it begs the question, is he taunting his opponent or has Cardin done something to deal with his opponents speed?" As the announcer comments with a play-by-play, it only serves to increase Cardin's frustration as it seems the announcer is only trying to humiliate him, or at least that's how he sees it.

This frustration only further deepens as the match goes on, each swing is dodged and the spoon somehow slowly moves towards his head every time, with the announcer's comments only serving as further humiliation.

"AHHH!" He shouts, it seems the frustration has finally gotten to him as he charges at me, swinging his mace with a horizontal sweep.

Noticing what he is trying to do, I dash forward towards him instead of dodging, elbowing downwards against his rising knee. He had tried to bait me into dodging and then following it up with a kick to the face; honestly not that bad, but with how he was acting while trying to bait me, he may as well have just screamed what he was doing. Seeing me come closer he brings up his free arm to try and uppercut me as I move closer, however,

Dong!

A familiar sound rings out and he collapse down to the ground, just before I land.

"…..AMAZING! It looks as if Contestant Ira leaped up, flipping over his opponent and hitting him in the head with the spoon as he flipped; instantly going through enough of Contestant Cardin's aura to knock him unconscious! AMAZING!" He shouts as medics run on stage. As they check the pulse of Cardin, they give the thumbs up and the announcer continues, "By way of KO, Ira goes through to the Finals!"

"Cool!" Neptune says as I walk backstage, he has been sticking around me since the first match, "You were so cool, Ira. But you should be careful, the next person you're fighting is the fan favourite, she is treated as a prodigy at Sanctum Academy; leagues above anyone else in this tournament."

"You seem to know quite a lot about this girl." I say to the quick talking boy, who blushes.

"I kinda have a massive crush on her…." He says in a low voice while rubbing the back of his head. 'Hmm, another change from the show; this is not looking good.' I think to myself as he continues speaking, only to be interrupted by the announcer,

"And her opponent, who literally came out of nowhere, defeating almost every opponent with his first strike; Ira!" The crowd cheers as the announcer calls me onto the stage.

**I was debating ending the chapter here or concluding the tournament in this chapter, in the end I decided to split them. Cliffhanger, I guess.**

**A few familiar characters coming into play too.**

**This was also my first proper fight scene with weapons, the one when he was kidnapped doesn't count. Be sure to leave some feedback, I'd love to know how I did. Also the amount of people went from like 800 views to almost 1600 in a day, that's sort of crazy. Hope you like it.**

**Thanks for favouriting and Following and reviewing too.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"On one side, the prodigy of Sanctum, Pyrrha Nikos!" The announcer shouts, causing the person in question to suddenly take on a gloomy expression, however it vanishes as quickly as it came and she smiles, waving for the crowd, "And her opponent, the mysterious boy who quite literally came from nowhere; not sharing anything other than his first name; Ira!" The crowd cheers, but not nearly as much as they did for Pyrrha; being that she is well known throughout the city while I am just some passer-by, the reason is obvious.

"With one already being well accomplished, hailing from our very own city, she has quickly flown through the tournament with the crowd at her side throughout it all. The other having come out from nowhere, defeating his opponents with ease, he has quickly won over some fans within the crowd. Who will win, anyone can say; whether Contestant Ira can beat Pyrrha like he has all the others, or will he fail to stand against the polished techniques that gained her the title of 'Prodigy of Sanctum.'" the announcer comments as we ready ourselves, Pyrrha readying her shield as a guard against my speed probably and gun pointing towards me. "Without further ado; let the finale of the tournament, BEGIN!"

'Okay think, can I beat her? She was meant to have won 4 years in a row before she joined Beacon, so if I beat her now, will that stop her?' I think to myself, counting on my fingers the years until Beacon 'No, it should be fine, we still have 5 years, if there is a tournament every year that means she has 4 more after this one, plus this way I can test her to see how far she has come, she may even be better than me for all I know.'

Noticing me thinking to myself without equipping my sword, Pyrrha pauses, "Um, shouldn't you take up your sword, do not worry I won't attack until you are ready." Always the kind hearted girl, in shouldn't really be surprised why Neptune has a crush on her, in fact it's a bit weird Jaune didn't.

"Oh, yeah, but couldn't you have attacked and beaten me, in a real fight you really shouldn't wait." I ask, surely that was a huge opening.

"Maybe." She says with a pondering look, "But this is a tournament, not a real fight, we are here to test our skill, not survive. I don't want to win this so much that I would do something underhanded."

"I guess you wouldn't." I chuckle as I unsheathe my sword, this is going to be way different from the other matches, I can already tell, "But remember, hands above the belt." I say with a smirk, getting a light chuckle in return. Getting into my usual stance, I continue, "Let's put our skills to the test then, shall we Miss Nikos?"

"What's this? It seems that after some back and forth between the contestants, Ira has already unsheathed his blade. It seems he can't take our city's champion lightly!" The announcer comments as the fighting commences.

Dodging the sudden shield bash with a side step to my right, away from her sword I quickly take a step back, she had swung her shield to the left after noticing I dodged, with its edge inches from hitting me.

'Definitely better that the other's' I confirm to myself before redirecting a sword thrust away from me; she is quick and can respond to the changing situation efficiently. A good plan as well, doesn't let me have the time to attack or counter, considering all my matches ended with quick, rapid thrusts, except the last one, it's a well thought out strategy.

Dealing with both her sword, she quickly regains her balance instead of stumbling forward, she must have used her semblance to correct herself.

"Amazing, Pyrrha has went for a full offensive strategy, not allowing her opponent to have a moment to spare, having to block both Miló and Akoúo̱ with only his thin sword. Can he last until she tires, or will he be the one to falter?" The announcer shouts as she keeps attacking, forcing me to play the defensive. After a while of this however, she stops and quickly retreats, taking up a defensive stance.

"Not bad, possessing skill and speed, a strategic thinker, and can keep calm under pressure." I say to myself looking at my blade that I had just thrust out with, before returning to my default stance. It's my favourite stance, so it is almost always my go to. It gives off a refined, calm atmosphere; something I find matches my usual demeanour. But admittedly, it isn't always the best option, sometimes you need to be a little more….wild.

"Thank you, however I could say the same for you, able to deal with both my sword and shield for so long without even getting out of breath." She replies back.

With a light bow to her comments, I charge in, this time going on the offensive. Instead of thrusting, like she was thinking I would do, a kick hits her shield, sending her sliding a good meter or two. A hand then grabbing the top of the still held up shield I pull down as I jump, moving her shield away from blocking her body. Twisting my body to be parallel with the ground, my knee connects with her temple, sending her to the side, releasing her falling shield.

Getting up again I see she is a bit shocked, after all I had just changed my fighting style completely, from relying on refined and dignified techniques, it changed to a wilder, more untamed technique, using every opportunity to attack. She notices her shield under my foot, and feeling a slight pull, I kick it towards her. It seems she didn't broadcast her semblance even at a young age; I am doing the same though, except I haven't used it in the tournament at all.

Noticing she has again entered a defensive stance with her sword out front, a

Clang!

Resounds throughout the arena after my sword struck her shield with a heavy impact, surprising for the type of sword I am using. Due to its slightly odd nature of being a mix between a sabre and a rapier it is good for not only thrusting attacks but slashing ones as well.

"Amazing, it seems as if there is a completely different person in the ring compared to before! The mysterious, yet refined swordplay of Ira has changed into an untamed wild barrage, yet even then it looks beautiful as he flips, steps, jumps and twists around Pyrrha, not giving a hint from which direction the next attack is coming from, it looks as if he is dancing around her, rotating his body it looks as if he isn't even affected by gravity. And the left hand that was always behind his back? Its seems to have become just as active as his right, as the sword finds its way switching from left to right as he flip and sails through the air!"

As the announcer finishes speaking all that it one breath, a horn resounds, "And the winner, having seemed like a changed man, or rather boy, is Ira!" He shouts.

Landing on the ground, I stand straight looking refined once again and sheathe my sword. Turning around to the collapsed Pyrrha, I offer my hand, which she accepts and stands up.

"Thank you, I wasn't expecting such a change, I couldn't even keep up." She says as she looks at the board above, seeing her aura dangerously low. "But I don't think I could have been able to beat you even if I knew." Saying in a sigh, "It seems you weren't completely right with your earlier comment."

"I disagree, fighting well and dignified, you kept calm, you just, as you said, couldn't react. You fought beautifully, and if you had used your semblance a bit more, I wouldn't have even had a weapon to fight with." I say to her, of course I had went in knowing that she might not have developed that habit and might lose my sword, I still had a few options to fight if she used her semblance, one of them being my own semblance. She might not have won, but she done an amazing job, I was relieved she wasn't weaker than what she should have been; if she keeps this up she should be just as strong as she was in the show.

"So you could tell what my semblance was? I didn't even catch a hit of yours" She chuckles, "Still, you don't seem like you feel you would lose even then."

"I didn't use mine. But whose to say what would have happened if we did? it could have went either way, don't you think, 'Prodigy of Sanctum'?" I say with a teasing smile, resulting in another chuckle.

"It's Pyrrha, you can call me Pyrrha." She replies, she doesn't seem to like the nickname from the announcer.

"It's a pleasure, Pyrrha. You can call me Ira." I say, before walking off the stage.

"The pleasures all mine…" She says in a low voice before walking off the stage as well. "Weren't you the one with the guitar this morning?"

'Has everyone in Argus seen me busk?' I think to myself.

###

"And so, the winner of the tournament is…" The announcer says, standing in-between me and Pyrrha, "IRA!" He holds up my hand, resulting in the loud cheering of the audience.

Being led backstage after it's over; I am met with a middle-aged man with hair all around his face like a lion's mane.

"Good show, my boy, good show!" A hearty chuckle resounds from the man.

"I don't believe we have been introduced." I say, eyeing the man suspiciously.

"No, I don't believe we have, Leonardo Lionheart, Headmaster of Haven Academy, at your service." He replies.

"Ira."

"Oh I know who you are Ira, after that match, I'm sure everyone in Argus right now knows of you." He says, while chuckling, "To get straight to the point, how would you like to join my school?"

"…." What? I am too young to be joining a huntsman academy, and the skill I had shown out there was nowhere near the level of what a first year at Beacon normally possesses, there must be something up his sleave. My face must show a puzzled expression as he corrects,

"To be clearer, I mean Sanctum, then my academy." He says with another hearty chuckle, 'he seems livelier than he should' I think to myself. Perhaps this is him scouting me for a certain witch, I cautiously reply,

"I don't have enough money to pay for my admissions." The old 'I don't have money excuse', I have no intention of going to Haven, it's best to let him down now and get him out of my hair.

"No need to worry, having to wave the fees is nothing compared to having someone of your skills enter." He seems to have thought of everything, let's go a different route,

"How can I be sure you won't make me pay them back when I graduate, or blackmail me knowing that I owe your school?" the untrusting homeless child ploy.

"Ha Ha Ha" He chuckles, "Very well, how about a contract, if at any time you think something like that is happening, you can leave, no questions asked and you won't owe a single lien, how about it?"

"Deal." It's a win-win for me, I can attend his school, see how the schooling system works, get some knowledge of areas I might not know and then leave and go to Beacon. In all honesty, it wasn't the good idea to suggest that on his part.

"Excellent! I'll go draft up the documents, remember school starts next month." He says before walking away with what looks like a secretary.

"It seems we'll be classmates." Pyrrha says as she walks up to me.

"Isn't he the headmaster at Haven? How can he submit someone to Sanctum?" I ask, not quite sure if what he said was true.

"Yes he is, however Sanctum is a preparatory school for Haven, almost all students who go to Sanctum are shortlisted, as long as it is within their ability, to go to Haven." She replies, it wasn't explained in the show, and considering the distance between Sanctum and Havan it seems a bit odd, but there were schools like that in my previous life, heck even some preparatory schools were on opposite ends of the country.

"I see, so it's like that…" I say while thinking to myself, "Does that mean you are going to Haven?" I continue in a joking manner, already knowing the answer,

"Yes, I plan to." Pyrrha replies as if it was obvious.

….Huh?

Or so I thought.

**A/N**

**Another cliff-hanger?**

**Okay, so Ira's fighting style; typically it looks refined and dignified, like a high-class fencer, minus the long lunges and squat stance, his legs are almost fully straight, with a slight bend to be able to react. However sometimes when he that isn't enough, he will switch up his style, becoming slightly unchained, with a more wild fighting style. I envisioned the wilder style, with his rapid flipping and switching sword hand, to look like Tatsuya in the Nine schools competition when he was facing the Crimson Prince and shooting down the barrage of magic circles as he flips and switching the gun between hands, except Ira uses a sword instead of a gun.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Haaah…Haaahhh…. It seems like you win again, Ira." A red haired girl says as she leans over to catch her breath.

"Two against one, I didn't know I wronged you in some way." I say, with a mock hurt expression.

"Shouldn't we …..be the ones….. saying that, were you… going easy on us in….. the tournament last year?" A blue haired boy, in worse shape than the girl, says as he collapses onto his back.

"No, Pyrrha isn't someone people can go easy on, I might have lost if I didn't change it up at the end." It had been a year since the tournament, and we had just finished the school year.

"So…. Against me…" The blue haired boy, Neptune, mutters to himself in between breaths.

"There is no need to doubt yourself, Neptune, I am sure you will grow to be just as strong as me, maybe stronger than I am now." I say to the still exhausted boy.

"It truly was a difficult match." She says as she readies herself again, having regained a steady breath. "But even back then, you didn't use your semblance, and I haven't got any closer to figuring it out. I can only think it is some speed-type semblance or a technique type semblance to switch techniques like you do."

"My semblance is rather….unique to say the least." I say, she had been right; I haven't fought or even used my semblance in front of anyone in the last year, even during sparing in classes at Sanctum. I have a nagging feeling that if I do, someone might come for me with less than reputable reasons, and I don't think I'm strong enough to be a Schnee without protection just yet. "But aren't you as guilty as me? You have only used your semblance a little, to alter the trajectory of a sword for example.

"Then as practise for the upcoming tournament, how about a dual with our semblance? No holding back." Pyrrha says as Neptune drags his exhausted body out of the arena after hearing our discussion.

"No holding back? That would be…interesting." I say looking around the training room that is filled with metal objects, perfect for little miss magnet. "And destructive."

"Yes, I think you are right." She says after realising that most things around us are magnetic, and chuckles lightly.

"Since you don't know what mine is, I'll show you first." Deciding I would like to see who would win in an even, nothing held back fight, I go to show her my semblance.

"Ira!" Someone shouts at me before I could however. Turning to look at them, I notice it is t familiar secretary I've grown to know over the past year.

"Miss Dia, is there something I can help you with?" I ask as she walks over.

"Please, call me Kora. I tell you this every time I see you." She says with a stern expression, she is the type to wear her heart on her sleeve as they say.

"Kora, I take it Leonardo is here as well?" I ask, changing my previous question.

"Uh, yes he wishes to speak with you."

"I see… Tell him I'll be right with him." I reply as I turn to talk to Pyrrha who had realised that our match had to be postponed.

"It seems we were interrupted, perhaps tomorrow then?" She says to me when I walk over.

"I might end up being busy; it doesn't look like you'll ever find out my semblance." I say with a wink. Before continuing, "I have to go see Leonardo; it seems he wants me for something."

"Ah, it must be something important. Good luck." She replies, going to walk away, I grab her arm before she turns around and whisper into her ear, "Is it just me, or has Leonardo been acting different since the start of this year?"

"I, uhm, I think so too…" The girl says, blushing slightly due to how close I am to her, I let her go when she finishes speaking, typical reaction for a girl her age I think as I do.

"You know, I always wanted to go to Beacon Academy in Vale. The other 3, they don't really feel as real as that one feels; like they all are copying an original." I say as I turn around and leave, leaving a blushing, but puzzled girl.

###

'I knew it.' I think to myself as I sit down in a chair after seeing the guest with Leonardo. 'With the difference between his previous demeanour and his current, I knew something had happened.'

"Ah, Ira, This is Cinder, she just completed her first year at Haven academy." Leonardo says, gesturing to the guest.

"I see…" I say as she stands up and extends her hand,

"Ira, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine." I say, returning her handshake.

After we sit down behind the desk in Leonardo's temporary office at Sanctum, I continue,

"Is there a reason I am here, Professor?"

"Ah, yes, it seems Miss Cinder has been assigned a mission to Kuroyuri which was destroyed 2 years ago, and I thought this would be perfect for you to see what attending Haven will be like." He says with a slightly gloomy expression, before putting on a smile. While he has attempted to appear like nothing has changed, it is obvious for some of us to see, shown by how Pyrrha had noticed the change when she only ever interacts with him when I am there.

"I am only 13, while you have assigned me….small missions they have never been as dangerous as leaving the city and going to a place destroyed by Grimm before, is there a reason for this?" I say, which is true the missions usually range from attacking some small amphibious-type Grimm that have washed up on shore at the docks to joining older Sanctum students in their missions, they have never been something as dangerous as this. The difference between the missions I had been assigned, which were more like errands, and this one, which was assigned to someone going into her second year at Haven, is like the difference between night and day.

"I assure you, recent scouting missions have all deemed it safe, it is just a routine mission that Cinder would have been doing alone. And due to the lack of danger, I had thought it to be a good experience to go outside the walls of Argus for you." He says, getting slightly desperate, changing the reason slightly in his attempt. I am getting more and more suspicious; or rather I was already suspicious as soon as I entered the room, now though I am on full alert. I shouldn't even be on their radar, yes I may have beaten Pyrrha last year, but it wasn't anything spectacular. As I think to myself I catch an almost imperceptible glare from Cinder aimed towards Leo.

"What the Professor is trying to say, is that it would be a good experience for you, this has never happened before to a student still attending a combat school. It is something many would jump at the chance, you might even enjoy it." She says, "I myself am quite excited to see last year's Tournament winner fight against Grimm instead of people."

Even as a student she had that silver tongue, but I can tell there is a hidden meaning behind the words, coupled with the strange atmosphere Leo is giving off, more than usual, there is a chance they have more intel than they should, whether they think I am a good find, or they found out I am a Schnee. Whatever it is, I don't think I will be able to refuse, 'better to pretend I fell for the honey trap than to fall to the blade' I think to myself as I go to reply,

"Alright, I will accept, however will I be getting any payment for this like usual?" I ask, there are typically only two types of honey, and I seriously doubt I'd get the other one from Cinder, unless she has a thing for children.

"Er…." The Professor is a bit tongue-tied, obviously this wasn't his idea.

"I believe there should be a payment from the Academy, isn't that right, Professor?" Cinder answers for him, 'do they seriously think I am stupid or something, she clearly knows how suspicious this is right? Maybe they are counting on me being suspicious.'

…

'No if I begin going down that kind of thought I'll burn myself out.' The joke was always used in shows, 'maybe they already realised that I realised that they would realise…. Etc' I had no intention of going down that loop, I'm cautious, not paranoid.

"Would it be possible to get it in advance? I am in need of a new sword." I say, taking out my rusty sword, in honesty I could continue to use it, but it was a good excuse for getting an advanced payment, and it's always good to get an advanced payment when dealing with….less than reputable people.

"…There shouldn't be a problem." This time the Professor answered. "We leave tomorrow, I will have Kora give you your payment before you leave."

"I see, thank you." I say standing up, giving a light bow before being spoken to by Cinder,

"I hope we can…get along… on the mission." She says in her typical sultry tone. Seriously, should she be like that with a 13 year old?

###

"Is there a reason we are going to Kuroyuri? I know it was destroyed by a Grimm attack, but why are we going back?" I say to Cinder as we set up Camp under the moonlight, the sun had set. It took us a week but we finally reached Kuroyuri, it was about an hour walk from our camp, meaning we would reach soon after we rest tonight.

Our camp was set up to be surrounded by bushes in a forest, out of the way from the road. After she finishes setting up a tent, she replies

"It was as good a place as any." Sounding ambiguous

"…."I look her in the eyes for a few seconds to ascertain what she means before breaking the silence, "For what?"

"For a test." She says calmly, at the same time I feel a strong impact against my legs, luckily I had activated my aura during the period of silence earlier, so I wasn't injured by the attack, which turned out to be an arrow fired at my knee.

Jumping back, I notice she has vanished. Quickly drawing my rusty blade, I look around.

Not even having time to think, I jump away from where I am standing, as I do, a fire pillar rises from the ground.

"He was right, you're aura is quite substantial to be able to shrug off the arrow, even at such a young age." A voice emits from beyond the shrubbery. However I can't pin down its exact location. "And to be able to dodge the fire pillars, you aren't the same as other kids, are you?"

"I could say the same to you, Cinderella." I say in a teasing tone, it must have agitated her, as a fire pillar rises from the ground again, which I dodge, then another, which I dodge again. Every time I dodge, a fire pillar erupts in the spot I land, the time frame I have to dodge them decreases each time. As I am busy dodging, having no time for anything else, Cinder continues,

"No, to continue dodging, I can say for certain you aren't normal. I might even call you a prodigy."

All the while, I am still dodging, if I'm not mistaken, isn't her semblance glass related? She must have covered the area with dust and is now setting them off from a distance, but where?

"Don't you feel like you are wasting your time at Sanctum, having to hold back against people weaker than you, not able to fully let loose, to go wild?"

"For people like us, we can do so much more." The fire stops and she comes out of the bushes wearing a red dress with her weapons behind her back; two swords and some arrows.

"How about you join me, I can make sure you are never bored again." She says, she really does have a silver tongue; finding something that someone wants and offering them it. I see, she assumed I was bored.

Releasing the tension in my shoulders, I put on a jovial smile, which in turn causes her to lose her guard slightly, not much, but enough for me.

Dashing forward at a speed incomparable to when I fought Pyrrha last year, my sword swings toward her neck, however she blocks it. But I have already moved, a kick comes at her from behind, however she grabs and throws my leg, sending me flying.

Getting up, she fires three arrows of glass that surround me, forming a triangle. I go to escape, but before I can do anythi….

BOOM!

They explode.

"It's a shame; we might have worked well together." She says as the dust settles and begins to turn around, stopping as she sees a figure in the smoke.

"Kahuh, Kahuh," I cough, trying to clear my throat of the dust, "I wouldn't be so sure, didn't you just overreact? And it was only going to be a love tap." I say as the dust settles, revealing my figure being shielded by my semblance, a magic circle which disperses shortly after, however not quickly enough for her not to see it. But I didn't care if she did, now wasn't the time to be secretive about my identity. If I had any intention of surviving, I couldn't hold back. It may be Cinder, but I might have a chance to escape, she isn't as strong as she was in the show, so I shouldn't be in too much danger.

"A… Schnee." She mumbles, seeing my semblance and readying her two swords. "Now you really are coming with me."

"You need to work on you recruitment skills, word of warning, don't attack them before they refuse." I say as I use a circle to send me back, away from a double overhanded attack. Seeing her swords miss, she charges forward again, breaking through the circle I set up as a shield almost instantly as I use a different circle to side step her and go in with a thrust, however I have to again back away as shards of glass shoot toward me from above.

Dodging left and right as the shards are coming down like rain, Cinder begins speaking again,

"To think, the 'Prodigy of the Schnee's' had been right here all this time, we had thought you had died after you disappeared from the Schnee's home"

Ah!.. getting hit with a shard slicing across my side, through my clothing, I reply, "So what, you want to kidnap me?"

"Oh no, we already found out what happens when we kidnap two Schnee's, a disowned one still wouldn't get us any money."

…

'Two Schnee's? When? When we were younger? But then, the other was…'

"8 years ago." I say through gritted teeth.

"It seems you've remembered? It wasn't me of course, I didn't learn about it until last year myself. But yes, it seems we were the ones behind it, even if we didn't do it ourselves. Your parents didn't even respond the demands. What's wrong? Finding out your parents would rather you were dead than pay off a small little ransom?" She says as I stop moving, whether it was luck or not, none of the shards hit anything serious, just grazing my flesh leaving shallow cuts at most as they flew by.

…

…

Silence.

That's what it was like, as if the world had stopped at the same time I did, not even the previous rustling of wind through the leaves could be heard; it was utter silence.

###

Noticing the change, Cinder put's up her guard. Then she notices something under the boy, 'a yellow Glyph? He shouldn't have any dust with him.' She thinks to herself, the Schnee Glyphs needed dust, so how is he using a dust effect? She notices her own dust she had brought with her, it's possible he had secretly stolen some when she wasn't looking, he had been suspicious of her from the start, but he hadn't acted on his suspicions, perhaps he was just preparing, he has already proven his intelligence in our short conversations, She thinks to herself, as the boy suddenly looks straight at her, what was previously a gloomy atmosphere, at what she thought was because of his parents lack of love for him, was now anger.

Pure, unadulterated anger. As she looked at the boy, one thing stood out about him; his red eyes. It she could describe them in one word it would be 'Bright' as they seemed to glow under the light from the moon.

Before she could even process why his eyes were suddenly so bright, he vanishes; she almost missed him as he closed the distance, however before she could even react, she felt an impact to her side as she slides a few meters to her side.

Then another…

And another…

And another…

The boy whom she had been toying with before had sped up; it was if he was a changed person. A hit to her flank, her solar plexus, her arms; she felt the impacts one after the other as her aura absorbs the blows.

There were countless numbers of glyphs littered through the air, if this had been earlier, she could have calmly looked at them and noticed that they had a different design from the Glyphs of the Schnee's, however she couldn't now.

With each hit she felt, she grew annoyed just that little bit more. Some boy, who knew nothing of the world while living a sheltered life in Atlas, had been hitting her, if not for her aura, she might have been defeated, this angered her.

"Enough!"

###

Faster

Faster

Faster!

FASTER!

I keep repeating in my head as I hit, hit, and hit.

I'll kill her

I'll kill her boss

I'll kill THEM ALL!

I'll kill her. It doesn't matter about needing her alive for the story, I'll kill her.

Just a little bit faster…

"Enough!"

"Gah!..." I cough as I am blown back by a blast.

Looking around , I see my sword still in my hands. Looking up, I see Cinder, appearing as if literal flames are coming off of her as dust scatters in the air.

"I've had enough; we already thought you were dead, so I'll just make sure of it!" She shouts, rushing towards me.

I need to kill her. Picking up my sword I rush forward.

She'll die, as long as she dies, so die!

I meet her in the middle where what was once our camp, our swords meet, then

Shatter.

My sword is broken by her glass swords, ironic.

But as that shattering sound resounds and I am blown back, I regain some of my usual calm, enough to think calmly at the very least.

'What am I doing? She needs to die. But if I die here, she won't and Weiss will be dragged into something and get hurt again, just like when we were 5. I need to live, then come back and kill her later when I'm strong enough. If I die here, everything was for nothing.' I think to myself.

Thinking calmly I weigh my options; I'm almost out of aura, my sword has shattered, and I'm facing someone stronger than me. Okay…

Standing up, she charges me again, she doesn't seem as calm as she usually does, she seems kind of angry actually. Okay, this is good.

If I was stronger I could just kill her and it would be over….. But I can't.

Activating a yellowish magic circle below me, time slows down. Time dilation, it seems I have finally unlocked it. But now isn't the time to be happy about it. I need to be able to use it.

Running towards her, I speed up using a path magic circle, each step increasing my speed just that little bit faster. As I get close, she makes a large move to attack, turning in a circle to cut me in half as she turns back around. But just as she is about to hit; I jump.

Using my speed with the help of what little aura I have left, I use a repulsion magic circle, sending myself into the air. I just sail through the air in an arc, flying for who knows how long before,

Dong!

I am knocked out by hitting something hard.

**A/N **

**We saw a…different side to Ira today. He isn't psychopathic or anything, he doesn't just indiscriminately kill, but he is not above doing so if it is necessary, he just didn't have the power to, if he did, he would have. But he couldn't because, while he is strong, he isn't so overpowered that he could defeat Cinder when he hasn't even joined Beacon yet, even if she hasn't reached the level she was in the show. He is still growing after all.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I would like to explain about something last chapter, to avoid confusion. The fire pillars were because she has sprinkled small bits of dust crystals and was then setting them off from a distance. It's like how she did with the arrows, and while not as powerful, it can be activated from a distance as well as quickly, just not instantaneous show by how Ira could dodge. Hope that clears up any confusion, and enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 10

"Ow… My head…" I say as I raise my body slightly, grabbing my head due to the pounding in my head.

"I must have hit it harder than I thought." I say, the last thing I remember was flying through the sky before falling unconscious, outside. Now, however, I am inside and not somewhere I recognise. "I can't say I appreciate the change in scenery."

"You don't have a choice, Kid." A man with a scratchy voice says as he walks around the corner. The bald, middle-aged man continues, "You're the one, who fell into our camp, you're lucky you weren't killed never mind how you feel about the scenery."

"Camp?" I say as I look around, noticing fur sheets covering me, it seems more like a…..Oh no

"That's what we call it. Ever heard of the Branwen Tribe?" He says, sounding proud to speak of the name.

'Shit. I completely forgot they were based in Anima.'

"Not that I remember, but then again; with this headache it's surprising I can remember my name." I say, acting as if it's the first I've heard of them.

"Well I suppose so." He says in a hearty laugh, "Well, I'm sure you'll have enough time to learn of us, considering you aren't dead or in the cage, the Boss must want you for something."

'Raven.' I can't meet her yet, she definitely won't take too kindly to me, considering what she had done, or maybe it's a will do right now, anyway considering her treatment of The Spring Maiden, I can't say my chances are very high.

"You wouldn't know what, would you?"

"No clue, but you'll know soon, the Boss told me to bring you to her when you wake up." He responds.

"I see…" I reply, seeing his gesture for me to get up and follow him, I comply.

While it is suspicious and I realise I should run away, Cinder will undoubtedly be searching for me, so I have to lay low for a while.

"Boss, I've brought him." The gruffy man says as he stands outside of a large tent.

"Good work, Soot." A woman behind the tent's entrance says, "Send him in."

"Well you heard the lady, go on." He says before stepping back.

Entering the tent, I see the woman who had replied to the gruffy man, identified as Soot.

'Vernal.'

"She will be with you in a moment. Sit down." She says, not moving from the entrance.

As I think to myself that I have been waiting forever, and getting slightly thirsty, I quickly roll to the side.

Seriously! I think to myself as the cushion I previously sat on is destroyed.

"I think guests usually prefer tea rather than being stabbed in the back." I say as Vernal looks at me.

"If you were killed with just that much, you would already be dead." She says as she readies her sword… disk things as she prepares to attack.

'She seemed a bit weaker than Cinder, still out of my league but I should be able to escape nonetheless. I'd rather try and hide from Cinder on my own if the alternativr is killed here.'

As she charges, "Vernal, enough!" a shout causes her to stop, just before I activate my semblance. "Leave us." The voice says, revealing the owner as she walks through the back of the tent.

"But…" Vernal goes to say something but is interrupted,

"Go." The black haired woman says as she removes a Grimm mask as Vernal leaves.

"Do you know why you are still alive?" She asks me.

"No." I reply simply. "If you think I have something you want, you are mistaken."

"I am not the one mistaken, for you are what I want."

"Me?" I ask, completely confused as to why. Seeing this, she replies,

"You're fight, with that woman, despite being so young, was quite impressive to last so long." She continues, "Compared to how you fought in the tournament, you have progressed quite well."

"Why would the leader of a bandit tribe be interested in a tournament between children, and if you had seen the fight, you already know my semblance; why not lock me up and ransom me?" I reply, having regained myself after realising she had witnessed the fight.

"I doubt a disowned child would get us much money from those who disowned you." She states coldly before continuing, "But for being such a young child, you handled yourself quite well. So how about you join us?"

"What?" I seem to be confused by every reply she gives, I don't even think I was like this even when speaking with Cinder.

"You have no home, no family, nowhere to go to. I could use someone of your talents."

'Let's be real, while I think I am skilled for my age, there isn't really anything she should need, it's obvious that Vernal is stronger than me so she shouldn't have any need for me. The only thing I have over her is possibly my age and my… semblance…. I see.'

"You wish to use my semblance."

"Yes, it would be very useful." She replies matter-of-factly.

"And why should I?"

"It would be in your best interest."

"…"

I wasn't naïve enough to not realise a threat, as I thought for a moment, she continues,

"This isn't a choice, but it doesn't have to be forceful; a mutually beneficial agreement. You are hidden from Cinder without being locked up, while you work for us."

"…" I didn't think she would say it so bluntly. She is acting a bit different than how she acted in the show, but considering that she needs me for, whatever it is, her attitude isn't too far-fetched; she needs me for something, whatever it is, and while she has the power to kill me, or threaten me, it would work better if I work on my own volition. IT's not like I have many options, "Very well." I reply.

"Good, Vernal will lead you to somewhere to sleep. I look forward to you cooperation." She says as I leave.

###

"Why are you letting him walk freely? There is a chance he could run. Or even attack us?" Vernal shouts, as Raven calmly sips on her tea.

"He won't." She replies calmly.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because he is smart. If he ran, he knows we could find him, and if we didn't Cinder would."

"That woman? But why would she be after him?" Vernal replies, remembering the woman who had fought the boy.

"I'm not sure, but she will kill him if she does."

"Then shouldn't we just hand him over? We shouldn't have anything to do with Cinder."

"If she comes here looking for him, we will. However we will keep him until then because he would be useful. If you wish to watch him, then you can. However be careful, if I hadn't stepped in earlier he would have escaped."

"…Escaped?...I understand, I'll watch him."

###

"It's been an hour, no sign of the shipment?" I say through a scroll, the first one I got. Ironically, I never had one when I was growing up, or when I was at Sanctum but I got one now, from being in a bandit tribe.

"They'll be in radio distance soon, they were delayed." Vernal responds before ending the call. She has let up a little on the surveillance, enough for me to do missions alone at least.

Looking down at the warehouse, there isn't a whole lot, maybe a maximum of 10 people; 5 guards and 5 warehouse staff. It isn't many, but considering this is an Atlas base and the continent is Anima, they are most likely keeping a low profile.

A few minutes later of watching the guards, ensuring I know their routes, a large air ship comes into view. Looking towards the direction it came from, I notice another, smaller ship that isn't like any I have seen before; it has x-shaped nacelles with ribbons fluttering behind them. It seems like I should remember it, but I couldn't place it. It's possible I had seen it as a child since it's clearly Atlas military, well everything here is Atlas.

'I should be wary of it.' I think to myself, if I remember it, the passengers might remember me, not that they should recognise me considering I am wearing stealth suit, since my normal clothes would definitely give me away, and I am covering my face in a Grimm mask, to put the blame on the White Fang if I'm seen. Good idea, considering how they have recently been attacking places such as this.

I will need to change my plans; it's clearly faster than the airship I was hoping to use to transport the dust. 'I didn't think I'd need this, good thing I brought it, thinks might get…complicated.' I think to myself as I look at the weapon I was referencing.

It's somewhat similar to the rusty blade from before, I got used to handling it and it worked well so why not? My new weapon, like a mix between rapier and a sabre, it took a while for them to get that just right, or else I would have had it last year. The single edged blade is still straight with a slight curve at the top to create a point like my old weapon, even having the red crack-like line that runs through a slightly thin black blade, but the greyish handguard has changed slightly. After all, a weapon from RWBY must be something other than just a sword and it had become painfully obvious I needed a ranged attack. The handguard acts like a sheath when activated, moving up the blade and wrapping around it. However even in this form, it isn't useless like a normal sheathed weapon. There is a trigger on the handle which extends when sheathed and pulling it fires a dust infused shotgun round, however it only has 5 shots, but it's not like they will be used much, after all I also carry a handful of throwing knives located in a small pouch on my left thigh. I carry twelve, and when I use my semblance to enhance their speed, they aren't at all inferior to bullets.

The name of my majestic sword: Revenant.

Considering how I was born after dying, and it was modelled after a destroyed sword, I think it is a good choice.

As I stop gawking at my weapon, the crew have begun loading up the dust shipment, securing it to the bottom of the airship; signalling my time to begin. They are picking up a container filled with dust; I should have half an hour at most to do my job. Plenty of time for what my plan was originally, but now it depends if I can sabotage the flight systems of that odd ship. As I make my way over to the ship, I notice a man coming out of it. Wondering at what he was doing, considering he looked important, I follow behind him discreetly, before he goes into an office and begins talking in a hurried manner, unlucky for me, I can't make out what he is saying entirely, only bits and pieces.

"….here….possible…tip…."

Nothing useful.

As he makes his way out, he enters back into the ship, with me slipping in behind him. However just as I am about to knock him out, I am blown back, crashing through the still open door.

Looking up at the assailant who attacked me, and currently pointing a sword at my face,

"Identify yourself." She says.

'Winter?'

**A/N notes**

**To be honest, I wasn't so sure how to do this chapter. I knew the gist, but I couldn't think of a proper way to write it, hopefully it doesn't turn out too bad.**

**Also I probably won't be uploading a chapter tomorrow, I have some stuff to do tomorrow and won't have the time. But we are close to ending the Before Beacon Arc, since I don't want to explain everything he does before then for certain reasons, so it should be within the next 2-3 chapters maximum.**

**Also what do you think of his weapon? I knew I wanted the throwing knives thing, but I came up with the sheath idea and thought I would be a good fit.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

'Winter?' I think to myself, looking at the woman pointing a sword at me from above, 'Of course, the ship is Winter's; I didn't remember it from when I was younger, it was from the show.'

"I will not ask again; identify yourself." Winter says again, not even giving me time to answer her as I roll to the side, just missing a sword that would have impaled me.

Rolling to my feet, I jumping back to create some distance, silently watching as she point's her sword towards me once again.

"Surround him! He must not be allowed to escape!" She shouts, as a veritable platoon of at least fifty soldiers begin to surround me; the barrels of their guns all aimed at me.

'Ah, they must have been the containers.' I think to myself, noticing several now opened containers as I ready my sword, still in its sheathed mode and point it towards Winter. The soldiers that are surrounding me leave a massive hole in the formation meaning that there is a direct path to Winter's, of course this is the most well-guarded area considering she is standing there.

This was going to be very difficult; not only am I surrounded, but Winter is among them. If there was even a possibility of me winning, I would have to use my semblance, which she would recognise, and I didn't want that to happen; I'd rather not have the first we meet after 3 years be when I am working for bandits.

"The General was correct; there was an information leak…" She mutters under her breath, before addressing me.

"You are from the Branwen Tribe, aren't you?" her voice containing strong distaste, and a hint of anger.

"…" I silently observe her, not wanting to show any familiarities with how I usually act, lest she realise it's me.

However at my silence, she activates something on her sword, ejecting a second from the one she is holding.

'That's the sword I remember from the show.' I think to myself as I watch her get into a dual wielding stance. When we were younger, she had two separate swords; it seems she combined them when she had joined the specialist unit.

Wait, why is she already getting serious, doesn't she usually read the field, order some of her men to fire to gauge my reaction? That would be the best bet to get an idea of an unknown opponent's strength. Well, at least she isn't using her….

Quickly sidestepping to the right, avoiding a sudden thrust, missing me by the skin of my teeth, with her thrust slicing the clothing around my neck, yet not drawing blood, interrupting me, not with even a chance to think, I quickly parry her parrying dagger with Revenant's sheath form; before jumping back and putting her ship to my back.

'….Glyphs…' I think as I see the Glyph she activated behind her.

Firing a shot from the tip of my sheath, she puts up another Glyph, before removing it when it had blocked the shotgun bullets. As she does, I throw three throwing knives in quick succession, one behind the other. She swipes her sword, deflecting the first, before repeating the same action again with her dagger. However, the third was the real attack; as she connects with the third, it explodes, releasing a thick cloud of steam, creating a smokescreen.

'While it would be nice to see how far I've come since we last met, it would have to wait until more….equal circumstances.' I think to myself, turning on my heels and making a beeline towards the entrance to her ship from which I was so elegantly blown from earlier.

Making my way through the ship, I quickly find an empty bridge. Thinking rationally, that man who I was about to knock out before Winter's 'timely' intervention would have most likely told them to evacuate.

Sitting down to access what I assumed to be the Captain's flight terminal, I quickly jump to the left, avoiding two swords that had come down to cleave me in two.

'I seriously think people try to sneak up on me too much, it's getting kind of repetitive now.' I think to myself as I dodge another strike which seems slower than her previous attacks. As I dodge each strike, they inadvertently break a control console, or something that looks important. I guess I'll be taking the big ship after all.

Blocking a blow with my sheath, I am thrown out the window from the force, landing in the middle of the soldiers. Unlike what you would expect from Atlas, none of the soldiers are androids, so they are better at improvisation, shown by how they estimated where I would depart from the ship, although there aren't as much as before, only a fraction, so I assume they had several possible 'exit' points.

Getting up, I see Winter jumps through the window; I'm lucky she is aiming for my capture, or else I would have been killed long ago, that's what I've learned from our short….encounter.

"There are few members of the Branwen Tribe who could last so long, so I will give you one more chance to end things peacefully; identify yourself." Winter states as she points one of her blades toward me.

"…"

'Why is she so insistent I'm from the Branwen Tribe? She is correct, but she shouldn't know…There must be a mole.' I think to myself, as good a time as any to hand in my 'resignation'.

While I respond with silence, Winter goes for another thrust, this time towards my neck, but I force her to defend as I fire a shot from point blank range.

Using the confusion, I use this chance to use my semblance which is unseen by anyone thanks to the blast. The ice spreads all around, capturing the feet and making its way to the knees of everyone here. How am I able to do this without dust? You see, ever since I managed to use the gravity effect without dust when I was five, I had been researching my semblance, testing it out with different types of dust and I realised something; each dust type effect the design in the middle in different ways, and by changing the design on my own, I could achieve the same results. I had even made huge strides in interpreting the language around the outside, even if I can't understand it. While I haven't used it in combat yet, I had realised during my recent encounters with powerful individuals ever since leaving home that I have to start, if I had during the fight with Cinder, or even now if I could have fought with it, things might turn out differently; I have two years until Beacon, I don't want something to hold me back by then, I need to get stronger. This experience, and the fight with Cinder has shown me just how weak I am, I need strength if I want to be able to change the events of the show to be in our favour, strength I don't have yet.

But for now, I need to get away.

Running towards the larger, transport ship I from my original escape plan, I make my way on board. It seems all armed personnel had been in that group of soldiers, so I just pushed the people away from the console as I put in my scroll to the terminal; it was programmed with a route and put the ship into autopilot, resulting in the ship taking off almost immediately.

As the crew members shouted and ran for the exit due to the hijacking, I had a look over the security camera, it seems that they really did load the ship with a container, whether it's filled with dust, I can't tell. Another piece of good news, as I have taken off and the ship is flying through the air, it seems Winter has only now gotten free, I did make sure she had a bit more ice, so it's natural, and considering that many of the soldiers got free at the same time as her, I had no one who could follow me.

"Wait… What is that?"

###

"UNIT 2, unload the cannon! UNIT 4, prepare the ammunition! UNIT's 1 and 3, inform local authorities and prepare a ship!" Winter shouts as she frees herself, issuing orders to those under her.

"""Yes, Sir!"""

"But Miss Schnee, with the dust we have loaded on board the ship, the resulting explosion from the cannon could wipe out not only the ship, but possibly this facility." One soldier says, the cannon being the main focus of the facility. It uses high grade dust crystals to condense and fire a large beam of concentrated dust.

"We will be waiting until he is several clicks away, just inside its range. The General has issued instructions to begin testing its effect on firing at refined dust, but the report has said it has not been started; Therefore now will give us valuable data." Winter replies coldly at the soldier who questioned her orders.

"Yes, Sir!" He shouts before leaving, not wanting to dispute further with the senior officer.

However as he began to walk off and join his unit, taking a look towards the ship's direction, he sees a swarm attacking the large ship.

"Wha…." He was about to say, before being interrupting by someone shouting, "GRIMM!"

###

"Goddamit." I say as I throw away the mask I was wearing, revealing my annoyed expression. I had been spending the better half of an hour fighting these Grimm after the swarm of Manticores began attacking the ship.

Jumping back and landing on a magic circle, tilted upwards slightly, I rocket forward using the magic circle to increase my speed. As I move like a speeding bullet, I pierce the body of a Manticore, before kicking off it, as I use an ice magic circle to freeze its wings, causing it to take out a Manticore in its fall to the ground and I slice the head off another, causing all three to evaporate at the same time. I had unsheathed my sword almost instantly after firing off its remaining shots, and I had long since ran out of throwing knives. Luckily for me, there doesn't seem to be a leader to them, meaning they are mostly young Manticores, but the pack itself is quite large, hence why I have been getting pissed off, especially when you consider they are destroying the ship as well as fighting me.

I had made my way out to make sure that very thing didn't happen as the autopilot continued on course, but with their sheer number of the swarm, and area of the ship, it was inevitable they would make their way inside. Luckily I am the only one on-board, unluckily that means they are my problem, but I can practise using my magic circles in combat, a win-lose-win scenario.

KUURRRAAAAAHH!

Suddenly an ear shatteringly loud screech echoes through the air just as I land back on the ship, coming from above. As I look up, I see a huge manticore, definitely larger and older than the others, diving towards me.

Having no time to think, I instantly activate time dilation, followed but what I have name as a haste magic circle allowing me to quickly get out of the area, just in time as I get not even five meters away and it crashes into the ship, going straight through the metal exterior and from the resulting explosions, not stopping. It wasn't until I felt the ship take a short, but quick jolt downwards until I realised that it had went straight through the ship.

'The older ones are meant to be wiser, in what words is a kamikaze attack wise?'

###

"It's going down! It's going down!" One of the nearby soldiers shouts. The ship had travelled further inland; however it was still visible to those at the facility. They have prepared the cannon and been on standby with their weapons drawn, ready to attack any Grimm that stray towards them, however they seem to be focused on the large ship and after it got far enough away, there weren't any.

"All men, stand on guard, it is still within range of possible damage to the facility, so UNIT 4 wait with the cannon, when the ship goes down, open fire!" Winter shouts, she had been watching the ship since the swarm had begun. She would watch until either the swarm destroyed the ship, or it exited the range that danger might befall the facility and fire the cannon; this was the first scenario, however considering the amount of Grimm, which didn't seem to dwindle, it could be expected, the shocking thing was how long it lasted.

"Miss Schnee, the ship… Look!" A soldier says as he points towards the ship.

It was on fire, visible from even this distance. Considering the dust on board was all fire type dust, it must have been ignited and exploded when the larger Manticore dove through, Winter thought as she watched the flaming ship descend like a meteor. She couldn't see it crash, but she could definitely see the resulting explosion. Not caring about the dead bandit anymore, she began issuing orders.

"Fire the cannon! The Grimm have changed targets to us!"

###

"Ira?" A red themed girl asks me, bringing me out from my stupor and drawing my attention to her.

"Are you okay?" A white themed girl continues, "You seemed kind of dazed."

"That girl over there just reminded me of the last time I saw my family." I said, pointing towards a girl who has been terrorising the security staff.

"Ooh, he never talks about his family, isn't that right Melanie?" The red themed girl says.

"Yeah, it's making me a bit jealous Miltia." The white themed girl replies with a teasing tone, followed by a nod from her twin.

"I don't want to interrupt your fun girls, but get to work, whadd'ya think I pay ya for!" A man wearing red shades shouts as he gets up from behind the counter, signalling for the girls to go and handle the loud guest.

"And you, I'll pay." He says as he takes his shades off, showing how he is serious.

Looking between the guest and Revenant, my sword that is sitting against the counter, I reply, "I refuse, I'd prefer to just watch."

"You… fine, I'll pay double." He replies as he gets a rocket launcher from underneath the counter.

"I am not someone who will do as you say if you wave a few lien around, 'Junior', you should do well to remember that. However I was enjoying myself, so if you want my services, it's 5 times the usual." I reply, while I had been took some jobs from the man, I wasn't a mercenary, nor was he my boss, so his attitude pissed me off and when considering who the girl was, if he wanted me to work, he'd have to pay quite a high price, something he wouldn't want to do….usually.

"You fucking…Haaahh….Fine, just get her out of here." He says, his annoyance leaving his voice as he sighs, turning it into resignation.

I mean, I might not be a mercenary, but I'll be needing money for when I attend Beacon, had to get it somewhere, right?

"I've accepted the request, be sure to get the payment ready Junior." I reply, grabbing Revenant at my side before strolling onto the dance floor, just as she defeated the two girls.

"I guess this means you're next, what's wrong, angry I hurt your girlfriends?" The girl says as she flicks her blond hair over her shoulder.

Smirking, I get into my stance, one hand behind my back while the other raises the sword. I'd rather not talk about my relationship with the twins, especially considering this girls personality.

"Ooh, the strong silent type, let's party." She says, rushing in and swinging with a straight left, which I tilt my head to the side and avoid. She follows up with a right jab, which I duck under, causing her to bring up a knee while I step back. Extending her leg when her knee is raised, I sidestep and push her forward with the side of my sheath.

"Fight properly!" She shouts as she recovers from the stumble forward, turning around with a massive left hook, which I dodge by stepping back to just outside the range; smirking at the girl, reminiscent of how she was taunted, or rather will be taunted, by an ice-cream themed girl.

Using her gauntlets recoil to spin herself around, she turns and attempts to hit me with the back of her right fist, which I again dodge and kick her in the side, sending her a few meters through the air.

As she gets up, she reloads her weapon and charges at me, this time I charge into her as well, reaching her quickly and delivering a quick, but forceful thrust into her solar plexus, she flies back, breaking a window and landing on the street outside.

Following her out, I see a familiar looking girl in a red cape standing over her.

"Yang?"

**A/N **

**Well, we had another timeskip, meaning we will be getting into the events in the show!**

**Whenever I say sheath, I don't mean an independent sheath, but Revenant whenever it is in its sheathed form. I'm only saying this incase someone thought I was taking about an independent sheath that he wields alongside Revenant, which he doesn't considering his sheath is a mechanism of the handguard.**

**What's the relationship between the twins and Ira? It's a bit….complicated. **

**SPOILERS**

**It won't continue when he enters Beacon. I plan on using it in the future, but the relationship will have ended by then, he wasn't in love with the twins. I thought I should explain incase some thought I had chosen them as his love interest, which I haven't.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Yang?" A red caped girl asks the blonde who I had just knocked out the window. "Is that you?

'Ruby and Yang…. I don't exactly want to get on their bad side, especially since we'll be attending Beacon soon.'

"….Oh…Hey sis!" Yang replies, showing slight sheepishness, probably from showing her younger sister her getting thrown from a window.

"What are you doing here? You wouldn't believe what just happened to me! Wait, did that guy hurt you? Do you need any help?" Ruby says while speaking a thousand words in a minute, from what I caught, doesn't that mean that 'it' happened to her?

"Slow down, Ruby. I'll explain everything later, but right now I'm gonna kick this guy's ass!" Yang says, pumping her arms and taking a stance.

Looking around, I notice Junior and the twins, as well as a lot of his men start funnelling out of the club, as if to go to war with the two girls.

"You heard the lady, she wants to continue! Let's show her what we're made of! We got Ira leading us, so CHA….." Junior was about to run out with his rocket launcher turned into a club, but when he was about to pass me, I hold out Revenant, blocking his path and subsequently interrupting his shouting.

"No, you don't." I say, loud enough for everyone to hear, causing them to stop as well. "My job is finished, she is out of the club and as a bonus I'll make sure she doesn't go back in, so get back inside and prepare the payment."

"That's not how this works, we're gonna…." Junior was about to say something, before getting interrupted with my "Now, unless you want to go against me as well." Being 17, my voice has deepened compared to when I was a child, sounding deeply smooth, yet a bit rough; I guess refined yet wild is the perfect way to describe me, not just my voice but my appearance, fighting style, etc. My hair, still having the flick above my left eye, making part of my forehead visible as it falls to either side of my left eye, it looks refined yet wild, and still a silver grey colour. I'm now considerably tall at 6'2" and have a toned body, rather than overly muscular; going for the maximize strength without losing agility sort of thing. My clothes consisting of a dark grey waistcoat and a white shirt rolled up to my elbows and the top two buttons undone. I have a loose red skinny tie and dark blue pants which are covered from just below the knee down by black boots. I also have a black belt and dark red pouch attached around my left thigh, holding my throwing knives.

"I'm confused! Is he bad? Do we hit him or not?" Ruby shouts, showing her trademark innocence and drawing my attention back towards the two sisters.

"Let's just beat our way back in! Come on Ruby, let's go!" Yang says, pumping her fists and charging towards me, before being sent right back to where she started with a quick thrust from my sheath before Ruby even moved.

"Just leave it here, you got your answer from him, right? Try and force your way in and I will stop you." I say as I holster Revenant onto my belt and lean against the entrance, folding my arms. I might want to get along with the two, but I was hired to do a job, against canon characters or not, I will do it properly; so for the love of Oum, just leave you damn hothead!

"Hey, we didn't do anything wrong!" Ruby shouts, unsheathing her weapon, before tilting her head at Yang and continuing, "Right?"

"Attacking the owner of a bar, as well as non-huntsmen with loaded weapons, ruining the night's business due to the patrons fleeing, and then attacking me before I even spoke; is that not 'in the wrong'?" I reply, not moving from my spot as Ruby begins looking at Yang with a shocked expression.

"Eh heh heh…." Yang sheepishly laughs as she turns her head away and scratching her cheek.

"Yaannnggggg…." Ruby whines, complaining about her sister's antics.

"Yes, Ruby?" Yang replies, acting innocent at the reprimanding eyes of her younger sister.

"Why would you do that? I have already been with the police once tonight; I don't want to go back ever again, never mind in an hour after the first!" Ruby says at one hundred miles an hour.

"I don't know what…..Wait you were at the police station?" Yang asks, spotting a chance to change the subject as she quietly leads her little sister away from the scene.

'Huh, looks like Ruby got accepted without any difficulties.' I think to myself as I watch them off. 'Time to go get paid for a good days work, or rather a few minutes work.'

###

"I still can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me!" A blonde haired girl shouts as she hugs a younger girl, who seems like she'll be crushed by the hug. "This is the best day ever!"

"Ugh…please stop…" The younger girl says, with a tone as if she had been force-fed gruel.

"But I am so proud of youuuuu!" The blonde girl, Yang, shouts proudly as she congratulates the red-caped girl.

###

While this is happening, just as the ship is beginning to leave Vale and has barely ascended above the roof level,

"Dammit!" A boy, riding a blue and black motorcycle, is speeding along the road below, the horns of cars and vans go off as they swerve out of the way of the boy.

Suddenly, as the road ahead begins to empty of traffic, a bluish black light circle appears on the path ahead, which the boy drives straight through, seemingly increasing his speed as he does. The road ahead, coming to a dead end, also seems to have another two of these light circles; one is a bluish black light like the last, while the other is fully black. The bluish black one being slightly tilted upwards, unlike the previous one which was perpendicular to the road ahead like a doorway, this one seems more like a ramp, while the black one is a few meters ahead in the air.

"Now or never, Shirley" The boy shouts, the woman he is talking to must be invisible as he appears alone on his motorcycle.

As the bike hits the first light circle, it rides it up like a ramp, shooting into the air and hitting the second light circle. As the motorcycle passes through the second, it soars into the air; just into the path of a passing airbus, which just so happens to be travelling to Beacon.

Inside the ship, "Look, you can see signal from up her." A red-caped girl, Ruby says as she looks out the window.

"Yeah, you're ri…. Hey, what is that?" Yang asks as she spots something heading towards the window. "Is that a Grimm?"

"Quick we need to tell someone, Grimm have inva…..Ugh Yang? I don't think that's a Grimm. It looks more like a….It's a person!" Ruby shouts as the thing moving towards them gets closer and they can see what it is.

"Open the doors! There is a person heading straight towards us!" Yang shouts to her sister as she makes her way to the nearest door, with her sister helping her.

Just as she manages to pry open the doors, a blue and black object flies through, skidding before coming to a stop, as the students present point there weapons at the intruder.

"Perfect shot." The rider of the motorcycle says, taking off his helmet, revealing a handsome man, roughly the same age as everyone on the ship. "Thanks for opening the doors, I might have had to sacrifice the bike to get on." The boy says with a slight smile, unperturbed by the tens of weapons pointing at him.

"Hey! It's you!" Yang shouts, recognising the boy from someone she had met the night before last. Beside her, Ruby also recognises the boy and begins dragging her sister over towards him.

"I am so sorry for what my sister did." Hitting Yang to make her apologise as well. "Uh..Yeah, same here."

"It's fine, we'll be attending the same school after all, let's start over." He says, as the other students notice what he says, they put away their weapons and go back to taking with the others, though they still steal some glances at the boy made such an entrance so high up into the air.

"Yeah, let's never think about it again! I'm Yang, and this is my little sister Ruby."

"It's a pleasure." The boy says, getting off the bike and moving in front of the girls, "You can call me Ira."

###

Seriously, that was close, I almost lost little Shirley here. I had owned this bike since I was able to drive one, I had instantly made the worst decision a new driver makes when deciding to buy their first vehicle; buy an expensive one. I had customised her myself, just for fun, and she turned out quite well if I says so myself, and I couldn't help myself afterwards.

After seeing Yang and Ruby off, telling them I needed to speak with a staff member about my bike, it turns out the staff had expected something strange to happen and that they would bring it back and put it in the company lot, like most people do when travelling to Beacon.

'Looks like everything worked out.' I think to myself as the airbus lands and I wait for most of the passengers to get off before exiting myself, I don't want to get caught up in that stampede.

Ah… truly an amazing place; watching it from behind a screen doesn't do it justice.

###

As Ira is gazing in wonder at finally seeing something anyone who has seen the show has hoped to see,

"What are you doing, you dolt!" A white themed girl is reprimanding a girl who had fallen over onto her luggage.

"Do you know what you just did? Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?" She says, grabbing a case that the red-caped girl, Ruby, had picked up. "This is dust! Water, fire, lightning!"

"Uh…." Ruby replies, still somewhat dazed at the other girls sudden scolding.

"Are you braindead? Dust is the energy that powers our entire society! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is? Are you even aware at that?" She continues admonishing the younger girl, waving around a vial of the dust, unknowingly spreading it through the area as the vial seems to have been damaged, causing Ruby's nose to begin twitching.

"Are you even…." Just as she was about to berate the girl further, she is sent back along with the other girl by a sudden force, not unlike how her own Glyphs are, just as the area blows up, saving both of them from being hurt.

"See this is exactly what I'm…" Just as she was about to explain how they could have been hurt, she catches a figure standing between the two, causing her to freeze. She doesn't believe what she is seeing, as she catches glimpses of the figures features through the smoke.

"Isn't Rule Number 1 of dust safety, not to cause a danger by spreading dust into the air?" He says in a deeply smooth, yet slightly rough voice, picking up a clearly cracked vial as the smoke clears, showing his identity to the eyes of the girl as their eyes meet.

"It's been a while, Weiss."

**A/N **

**Since some time frames aren't stated, I went with the Yellow trailer and Episode 1 of RWBY happened on the same night, just one night before the start of Beacon.**

**Fun Fact: Shirley follows the naming rule. It means something like white meadow, or bright wood. Ironically, its colour would be considered dark rather than bright.**

**Also a Reunion! How will they react? Will Shirley be competing with Yang's Bumblebee? What will happen next? Find out next episode on Dragonba…Wrath in White!**

**P.S. I most likely won't be able to post tomorrow, have some stuff to do again. So you'll have to wait until Friday for the continuation, is this the best cliffhanger yet?**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"It's been a while, Weiss."

"…Ir…"

The two stood in silence, the name of the boy coming from the girl in an inaudible tone that even a Faunus wouldn't be able to hear. The emotions of the two welling up at their first reunion in 5 years; what these emotions were however, were unknown, perhaps even to themselves.

The tone of the boy being such a wide mix of emotions, containing the happiness from reuniting with the girl, yet also containing the guilt and shame he felt for having left the girl, even knowing what would happen if he did; and the small smile on his face containing all the loneliness he had felt over the course of the 5 years. The girl, unknowingly to even the boy standing in front of her, was feeling a similar, yet slightly different mix of emotions. However unlike the boy; she chose to steamroll them in favour of something else.

"… Hmph." Catching herself before her mumbling could be heard, she responds in the same tone as she had with the girl before, "This is the property of the Schnee Dust Company, I will be taking it back." As she grabs the vial from the boy's hand and storms off.

"What's got to her, she's acting like a Diva." Ruby says in an awkward tone, not realising the brief exchange, although the participants themselves would be at fault for the same thing.

"It's heiress actually." A black haired girl says, causing Ruby to slightly jump, realising that she now stood in front of the new girl. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I'm actually surprised someone could make her freeze up like that." She continues, slightly glancing at the boy who was still facing the direction Weiss stormed off in, before returning her gaze back towards the book.

The small smile still on his face as he turns around to reply, only to be beaten by the red-caped girl, "That was so cool, was that you're semblance? Thank you for saving me." Speaking with the speed you would expect from someone with a speed-type semblance. "Anyway, I'm…..Ruby." She said, drifting off as she turns to introduce herself to the yellow eyed girl only for the latter to have already begun walking away.

"We should get going to the amphitheatre; the introduction will be starting soon." The boy, Ira, says as he begins to walk away, only for Ruby to catch up and walk beside him.

###

"All I'm saying is that anyone would make the mistake of attacking someone who hit their sister, who would actually believe that their sister was in the wrong." Ruby shouts, trying to reason with how they ended up meeting the first night, resulting in the boy's chuckling. "Besides, I didn't do anything."

"Fufu, That is true." The boy says in-between chuckling at the girl's action.

"So…uhm…" The girl mumbles, trying to think of something to change the subject, "I got this thing." Pulling a small rectangular box from behind her back, it forms into a giant scythe with the tip of its blade piercing the ground.

"A scythe..." The boy says, appearing gleefully as if he had just met his hero, the girl however takes this as the admiration you feel when seeing another's weapon, something she has felt many times since coming here, and proceeds to prattle on about it.

"….It's also a highly customisable, high impact sniper rifle." She finally finishes, even with the speed she was speaking; it took several minutes, with a slight blush after going on for so long, she adds, "…I probably shouldn't have told someone everything about my weapon…I can be a bit of a dork when it comes to weapons, especially my Crescent Rose…"

Chuckling, Ira replies, "I can see why…" Looking over the weapon and back at the girl a few times before continuing, "It's beautiful; you said you made it yourself?"

"Of course, all students at Signal forge their own weapons…Didn't you make yours?" She replies, looking at the sword at his waist.

"I designed it, but it was rather….unique to say the least. So I sent the design to a trained weapon smith; it took about a year for the design to be just right." Ira says, taking out the weapon and pointing upwards. "Although this is what you remember, this is actually its sheath, by activating a mechanism it retracts, forming the hilt. The difficult part was the blade; the design was from a rusty sword I used to use before it broke, it's…."

"It's sooo cooool!" Ruby shouts, inadvertently interrupting him as she nerds out over the weapon, dashing around to take a look at it from different angles, "It's simple yet the odd design makes it unique, what did you call it?"

"Revenant." Ira replies with a far off look, however it is missed by the girl still staring at the sword.

"Oooh, mysterious." She says as she lifts the weapon giving it a once over before storing it back into its standby mode and behind her back, just as Ira sheaths his own onto his waist again.

"Hey, do you know where we are?" She says, looking around at the familiar scenery they had passed by.

"We're lost." Ira states bluntly, "That's the third time we've passed by that statue."

Realising they have been walking in circles, they both laugh lightly, before Ira suggests, "This is the only way we haven't been yet, come on."

"Didn't I follow you last time, resulting in us being lost in the first place?" She says in a teasing tone, still following the boy.

"Didn't you almost get blown off the side of the cliff earlier when you were left alone?" Ira replies, causing the girl to smile wryly.

"It looks like it was the right way anyway, see." The boy says, indicating towards an amphitheatre filled with what looks like newly enrolled students still a bit farther away.

As they reach the entrance,

"Ruby, over here, I saved you a spot!" Yang shouts over from within the crowd, waving her hands and drawing the attention of the two.

"Sorry, that's my Yang; I gotta go, let's meet up again after the ceremony." Ruby says as she leaves after getting a nod from Ira.

"Now to find myself a spot…" He says as Ruby joins with her sister, making his way towards an open place, as he goes, a red-haired girl can be seen watching him as he does.

'Ira…'

###

"Wasn't that Ira?" Yang asks her sister as she stands beside her, "So that's why you were late…" continuing in a teasing tone.

"It's not like that!" Ruby replies, slightly embarrassed, before shooting back with, "And weren't you the one who ditched me in the first place, I would have exploded if he hadn't stepped in, you know?"

"Yikes, rough first day?" Yang replies, thinking her sister is just being sarcastic.

"No I mean I would have literally exploded. As in fire, lightning, and I think some ice?" The girl questions herself, finding it hard to remember everything since it happened so fast.

"Okay, I get it, I shouldn't have ditched you." Yang replies, still thinking her sister is exaggerating.

"I'm serious, I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, she began yelling at me, and before I knew it I flew back just before a big explosion and Ira was there, and the girl had left…."

"You!"

A shout from just beside her interrupts her from her venting, causing Ruby to jump into her sister's arms yelling, "Oh God, it's happening again!"

The girl from before, Weiss begins snapping at Ruby again, causing Yang to believe her sister's story.

"You really exploded…."

"Almost, and you're lucky he had been there or who knows what would have happened!" Weiss continues.

"I didn't do anything!" Ruby argues, technically she wasn't the one at fault, but as she spoke, Weiss held up a leaflet with the title, 'Dust for Dummies' in front of her and began speaking some kind of terms of service, speeding up and getting higher pitched as she went through it in a single breath, a slight chuckle could be heard nearby, but no one paid it any mind.

As she finished, Ruby had question marks as she didn't understand a single word of the monologue that would have put even her quick talking to shame.

"Uh?..."

"You really want to make it up to me?" Weiss interrupts her, causing her to give a nod in response, "Then read this and never speak to me again."

"Look…Sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot…Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" Yang intervenes, hoping for her sister to start over and be able to make friends with the girl, even if she is thinking she's a lost cause.

"Yeah, great idea sis." Her little sister agrees in the plan, turning to Weiss and extending her hand, "Hello Weiss, I'm Ruby, wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies."

"Yeah, and we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys; like tall, red-eyed and handsome over there." Weiss says, pointing towards a certain red-eyed individual talking with a red-haired girl, who was laughing at something he said.

"Ira?"

###

"I thought I would have been late, wasn't it meant to begin by now?" I ask myself. It has been an…interesting day to say the least. I had finally met Weiss again, she seems to have trained and became at least skilled enough to join Beacon, she even seems like how she was in the show, though I can't say she was…happy when she saw me. I wouldn't blame her if I'm honest, when the only person you can really rely on abandoning you, even if I say it was for her sake; she wouldn't believe me.

Another thing to note is that I got to see Crescent Rose up close, honestly a work of art; being a fan of the show from it was released, it's obvious I would be awestruck when I saw it. I also managed to be in a few canon moments, damn Jaune didn't show up to help Ruby, so I walked around the courtyard and got lost with her, hopefully when I'm on a team, the 12 of us can hang out.

"Ira?!" As I am thinking to myself, waiting for the Ozpin to walk on stage, a familiar voice calls my name, causing me to turn around and reply, "Pyrrha?"

"It's you!" She jumps, latching her arms around my neck, "It's really you, I thought you had died!" She shouts, with clear relief in her voice.

"Died?"

"The last time I saw you, you were acting suspicious when you went to see the headmaster, then you just vanished, no goodbye, no nothing; I was so worried." She rambles on, not raising her head from being buried in my shoulder.

"I almost did die, you don't know how close it was. He had sent me on a…dangerous mission."

"That's what the Professor said, that the mission you went on was dangerous, that the team you went with had died." She continues, finally looking up, only inches from my face.

"The…team I went with?"

"Yes, he said that there was no trace from the scouts, but if the mission was so dangerous, why would he send a Sanctum student? Even if one showed promise, it was just reckless." She said, visibly annoyed, while somehow incredibly relieved at my safety at the same time.

"So you chose to attend Beacon because you didn't trust him?" I ask.

"Uhm…No….You see I thought you had died, but you said that you wanted to attend Beacon….so I thought if you couldn't...I would instead…" She says somewhat shyly, embarrassed at her reasoning.

"To…honour me?" I ask, getting a slight nod in return. "I see…thank you, that….it means a lot that you came." I say as we fall into silence

"Then why didn't you come back?" She asks lowly, breaking the short silence.

"It was…complicated…You weren't wrong when you thought I had died, I almost did. But when I escaped…..It's a long story..." I say, I don't think I should it explain the reasoning, at least not right now.

"Yeah…okay." She says as we return to silence.

"I'll tell you another time, there are definitely some bits you would like to hear." I say in a teasing tone, changing the subject.

"I would, but I have some of my own as well." She says, trying to one up me.

"Oh, I heard, Miss 'I'm on a cereal box.'" I reply, teasingly, resulting in her chuckle.

"It's a shame the cereal isn't very good for…you…" She replies, drifting off as we both realise we are getting stared at.

"Ira?"

"Yang, Ruby? And…Weiss?" I ask, noticing a daggered glare being sent my way.

"Hmph." Weiss says, storming away.

"Someone you know, Ira?" Pyrrha asks me after watching the heiress storm off.

"Yes, but I've only met these two recently; this is…"As I was about to introduce the two sisters, feedback from a mic interrupts me, drawing our attention to the stage.

"Perhaps at another time, the Headmaster's speech will begin." Pyrrha says, as I turn back to the stage also.

"I'll keep this brief…."

**A/N **

**Ira's reunion with Pyrrha and Weiss? Did it go how you expected, were you shocked? surprised? How will it be once they shock settles? Who knows? Because I'm just as excited to find out. **

**I'm hoping I got their characters down, although Pyrrha was obviously more emotional in this chapter, her childhood friend came back from the dead, of course she would be. As for Weiss, well this is a slight au, while still being as canon as possible, some people, or events, may have different reasons motivating them.**

**And finally Ira. While he is observant, he doesn't see everything that goes on around him, nor can he read minds, so it's obvious that he would miss certain things. Or maybe he misinterprets them, it's almost impossible to correctly guess what someone is feeling, especially when your own emotions are in such turmoil. **

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed.**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"You will sleep in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. You are dismissed." A Blonde woman announces after Ozpin had finished giving his speech. Dressed in a pencil skirt, and a white long-sleeved pleated shirt, it is none other than Glynda Goodwitch.

"He didn't quite seem himself." Pyrrha says as the crowd begins to leave. Looking around, it seems that they are being led away by students of the Academy, I suppose expecting people to find their way would be kind of odd, especially when you consider the size of the school. Thinking back, I'm pretty sure I saw some students when I got off the airbus.

"I agree…" As I reply, I hear someone shout loudly at one of the exits,

"What do you think you're doing!" Looking towards the voice, I see a number of people crowding around a small group.

"I'm going to see what the commotion is." I say, making my way over to the crowd and leaving behind Pyrrha.

As I get over, it's hard to see the centre due to the size of the crowd, so I push my way through, before coming to the front.

"Because of you Schnee's, my father never came home!" A girl with horns shouts.

"Yeah!" The group shout.

"What the fuck is a damn Schnee pretending to be a huntsman for, get bored of killing Faunus?" A boy with some kind of tail shouts.

A group of 5 students, four being newly enrolled and not wearing a uniform, are shouting insults at a lone girl, Weiss. The group of 5, consisting of Faunus of varying types and genders, hurl insults as Weiss fires back.

Noticing this detail, and considering the…reputation Jacques has, it is obvious something like this is happening, it was only a matter of time, but already? I'm quite shocked, especially considering one of them is wearing the Beacon uniform, so they must have been studying here for at least a year.

Luckily they don't seem to be taking any physical action, but I can't tell how long that will last.

"What do you think you're doing?" I ask, with a deep and angry tone.

"This isn't something a human like you would understand, so back off." A slightly older student says. He is wearing the only one in the group wearing a uniform, being slightly older than the crowd, either starting his second or third year.

"Your right." I say, walking forward. "Because all I see about this, is a group teaming up on a new student, so tell me." Standing in front of Weiss, in between her and the group, "Is this how Beacon operates?" my tone filled with anger and oozing killing intent.

"I don't need you to protect me, I'm strong enough!" Weiss shouts from behind me, causing me to turn around and look at her with a smile like I always gave her when we were younger, I reply,

"I know you can. You've grown. But I'll handle them, what else is a brother for?"

"Brother?!" A horse-like tailed boy shouts.

"There's another one!" Shouts a girl with small antlers.

"Fucking Schnee's, thinking they can just do what they like whenever!" A girl with a missing fox ear shouts.

"Bhahaha!" The uniform student, who seems to be their apparent 'leader', bursts into laughter. "I thought you looked familiar! The alleged 'Prodigy' of the Schnee! To think, after vanishing from view, you decide to join this very Huntsmen Academy! Bhahaha."

As he scoffs at the nickname, the rest of the Faunus laugh alongside him, however the crowd, mostly filled with humans, are gossiping amongst themselves. It's not like I don't understand; the famed 'prodigy' of the Schnee family, vanishing from the public eye. There were rumours that I had died, or fallen ill. Whatever the reason, showing up here, it's obvious it would cause a commotion, after all; the Schnee family is one of the richest families in the world, but that doesn't mean I have to like others treating this as some third rate soap opera.

"But you're not my brother, so stay out of it!" Weiss shouts.

"I suppose you're right." I reply, chuckling slightly before continuing through a sorrowful smile, "But I'm not staying out of it."

As soon as I utter those words, a large magic circle appears beneath me and spreads to include the group of Faunus before creating a wall of ice, acting as a makeshift barrier around us. I had learned this as a way of herding….animals. Considering my family that could be considered racist, I mean to say it was for farming, I had been at a farm and wasn't so good at the shepherding part, I got creative, but I probably shouldn't say that to the Faunus here considering the circumstances. If it helps, I'm of the 'Animals ears are cute' faction.

"I will say this once, since I'm in a good mood; I'll give you two choices. You can either leave and never speak with us again, or stay and I will make sure you won't be able to." I say, wanting to get this over with, the anger in my tone from before is gone, so I'm being nice, if only this once.

Without even giving a response, the so-called leader, charges, swinging a right straight, however while it looks like it packs a punch, it is slow. I sidestep it, stepping into his chest and push him, which sends him flying into the opposite ice wall. Naturally, pushing someone wouldn't have this effect; I had used a magic circle, or rather multiple. Using one on the ground to keep me steady, then five more to increase the force on the point of contact; one for each finger. While this would have taken quite a lot of energy usually, since the effect was just the basic effect that Glyphs use, namely attraction and repulsion, it was actually not a lot, well in contrast to my aura supply.

Looking at their 'leader' in the ice wall, they all draw their weapons. The first to attack was a horned girl using a scimitar, with a ribbon; if she wasn't attacking me, it would look like a beautiful kind of dance. Sadly, she is attacking me, so I couldn't admire the form and quickly drew my weapon, still in its sheath and fired it at her, causing her to block. As I do that, a metallic ball flies past me, just missing me thanks to a slight tilt to my head. Looking over, I see the antlered girl holding a slingshot-type weapon. As she fires again, I quickly move, running towards the recovered scimitar girl and thrusting thrice in quick succession; one impacting her blocked blade, another impacting her arm, and the last hitting her in the solar plexus and sending her flying into the ice wall. A large metal ball is sent towards my back, which I jump and flip over; landing behind the assailant. A quick glance shows a metallic ball connected to his leg by a steel chain. Sending him flying with a spinning hook kick, he impacts the wall, followed by his metallic ball hitting his gut. Sweeping my sheath to redirect another metal pellet, I step to the side, a giant axe hits the ground where I once stood. Looking at the so called 'leader' who took too long to recover from a single push, I notice large curved ram horns, even in the uniform it is easy to tell he is quite muscular, as well as being tall. However, my hand shoots towards his face, grabbing it with an iron claw grip; I slam him into the ground, which cracks under the force.

I see a small red light in the reflection of the 'leader's' pupils as I begin speaking, my tone filled with anger and drenched in killing intent, I speak, "This. Is. Over."

'I guess I was still a bit angry with them.' I think as I stand up again and attach my weapon to my belt, brushing off my clothes. Looking up, I notice the slingshot girl is also unconscious, with Weiss standing over her. Looking up, I notice the height of the ice barrier was only a few meters, so she must have jumped over it.

As we make eye contact, I notice a slight glimmer in her eyes before, "Hmph." Walking away, as the ice wall has melted.

As she rounds a corner, I look to the students on the ground. It feels nice being able to actually defeat someone so easily now. After sparring with Winter growing up, then my run in with Cinder, then Raven and Vernal, then Winter again; it felt tiring, I couldn't help but curse my luck, Give me a break! Saying that though, I doubt they were all that 'exceptional' if I'm being honest, I guess team RWBY and JNPR were more exceptional than the show let on, especially if that's their peers.

"Are you okay?"

###

"It seems you've improved by even more in the last four years." Pyrrha says, as she places a sleeping bag near mine, but still leaving a bit off space. Lighting a candle due to how dark it is, I reply,

"I doubt I'm the only one, weren't you…" As I was about to tease her again, I see Weiss make her way over, casually setting a sleeping bag in-between mine and Pyrrha's.

"Is there a problem?" Pyrrha asks as the heiress unrolls the sleeping bag.

"This is the only open space that is not surrounded." Weiss argues, looking around I notice she was right; there was a lack of students near us, and the rest of the area was a bit cramped. But considering my…display earlier, I can't say I'm surprised, a student taking on a team of 5 without even going to initiation, they don't want to get on my bad sad, or perhaps they don't want to approach Pyrrha, considering how much she was treated differently, even by the teachers, due to her talent; it could just be both though.

"You aren't wrong." I say to myself as I continue to look around, spotting some familiar faces. "Pyrrha, this is my sister, Weiss Schnee. And Weiss this is Pyrrha Nikos."

"Nice to meet you."

"And you."

They both say politely.

"However I am not his sister." Weiss corrects, slightly annoyed.

"But you are related, yes?" Pyrrha inquires,

"Yes we are, the current head of the Schnee Dust Company raised me however, so I have treated her as my sister since I was born." I say, choosing not to go into too much detail about why.

"I see… I've known Ira for quite some time, although he never mentioned his second name, I had assumed he didn't have one."

"If I had used my semblance it might have been easier." I say, chuckling slightly at the last time we had seen each other.

"Yes, it was as if destiny wanted to keep it a secret until now." She says, chuckling along with me.

Standing up abruptly, Weiss makes her way away towards loud chatting. Looking at the source, I see Ruby and Yang speaking with a familiar bow wearing girl, who seems to be more interested in the book she is reading than the people in front of her.

Chuckling slightly as she begins shouting at them, loud enough for it to reach both me and Pyrrha.

"We should get some sleep, tomorrow seems like it will be even more exhausting than today." I say as Weiss begins to walk back, Pyrrha lightly chuckling.

###

As the early risers of the group of new coming students begin to wake, so too does a certain heiress.

As she slowly regains her consciousness, having slept well the night before, she had opted to stay like that for a while. However she noticed that, unlike when she had went to sleep; she felt her hands holding onto something, still not quite awake enough to tell what it was, she slowly began opening her eyes.

"…!" However when she opened her eyes, she was slightly shocked to see someone's face, not 50cm away from her own. Lying on his side, Ira had turned sometime in the middle of the night, with one hand beneath his head like a pillow, the other was outstretched, causing Weiss to realise that the thing she held with both hands was Ira's free hand. Red flushing through not just her cheeks, but to the tips of her ears, turning her once snow white skin to bright red, she didn't move, just staring at the peacefully sleeping face in front of her.

The past 5 years, all the hardships she felt, it was as if they were just a distant memory. For the past 5 years, she had one goal. She had been sad, so sad she had cried herself to sleep more than a few nights. The anger, towards her family, towards the company, towards her father, towards having to be bo…..

So she fought; she trained, so that she could become a huntress, so that she could fight for what she wants, not letting other people dictate what is good for her; she would decide herself. And now…she has a cha…..

"…" Ira suddenly turns, groaning and showing signs that he is waking up. Jumping slightly at the sudden movement, Weiss stands up, grabbing her things to go and get ready, before hastily making her way away.

**A/N**

**I'll don't think I got the characters down yet, if they are acting different put it up to the AU thing.**

**I tried to make Weiss hostile, but still polite in this one. There are a few reasons why, but not really getting in to them. Pyrrha, let's just say she isn't always polite. Ira? He feels like he had done something wrong, but it was necessary, while he hasn't changed much from usual (it was a really slight change in thought pattern), he wasn't his usual self here, and he'll be fine in the next chapter.**


End file.
